UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post
Published on Friday 15 March 2013
A WEST Yorkshire priest who revealed in court that he has been secretly married for more than a decade was today warned he may go to jail for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
William Finnegan, 59, known to his parishioners as Father Bill, denied forcefully kissing the 17-year-old and touching her bottom, but was found guilty by jurors at Bradford Crown Court.
During his trial, Finnegan, who was parish priest at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Fagley, Bradford at the time of the assault – revealed to the court and to his diocese that he shirked his vow of celibacy by secretly marrying Beverley Dawson in 1999.
He wed the previously married mother of two in Cyprus after meeting her at his former parish in Castleford, West Yorkshire, jurors heard.
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