IPSWICH (ENGLAND)
East Anglian Daily Times (England)
October 6, 2018
By Tom Bristow
A convicted paedophile was able to work unchecked as a Catholic priest for years – despite having a history of sexually abusing boys, an investigation can reveal.
Today the Diocese of East Anglia admitted making historic mistakes in allowing Father Cornelius O’Brien to work as a priest in Suffolk and Norfolk in the 1980s.
He also returned to do parish work in Norfolk in 2000, but by then authorities were aware of his past and his duties were ‘restricted’.
Abuse allegations were made about him in 1976, as well as by victims coming forward years later in 2004, 2010 and 2016. O’Brien died in Wymondham in 2012, aged 77.
O’Brien first abused boys while a priest near Christchurch, New Zealand, in the 1960s and 70s.
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