LONDON (ENGLAND)
BBC News
November 22, 2017
A Catholic priest jailed for sexually abusing a teenage boy has been granted the right to appeal by a senior judge.
Michael Higginbottom, 74, from Newcastle, was found guilty of a series of sex assaults when he worked as a teacher at St Joseph’s College, in Upholland, Lancashire, in the 1970s.
He was jailed for 17 years in April.
His lawyers told the Court of Appeal his convictions were unsafe due to an error in the trial judge’s ruling on what evidence went before the jury.
Higginbottom, of West Farm Road, Walker, denied eight counts of sexually abusing the boy when he was aged between 13 and 14, but was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court.
During the trial the victim told jurors that “being left alone at Upholland” was “worse than death”.
After hearing evidence from Higginbottom’s lawyers, a Court of Appeal panel, led by Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett along with Mr Justice Teare and Mr Justice Kerr, ruled there was an “arguable point” as to whether details of a fraud charge should have gone before the jury.
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