‘One-way air ticket’ for pedophile priest

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 18, 2013

THE Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide allegedly “provided a one-way air ticket to England” for a pedophile priest rather than report the man to authorities, according to police documents tendered to a state inquiry.

The allegations are contained in a 2011 email from Detective Inspector Paul Jacob, who was assigned to the investigation of alleged cover-ups of pedophile crimes by clergy in the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in NSW.

Detectives investigated a number of senior clergy, according to evidence before the inquiry, including the late bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Leo Clarke, and the current Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson.

The two were involved in a 1995 internal church inquiry into pedophile abuse committed by one of the diocese’s priests, Denis McAlinden.

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