BishopAccountability.org
	Sex Abuse Victim's Record Payout By Steve Chilton ic Coventry [Britain] June 30, 2005 A Coventry man who was repeatedly sexually abused when he was a child by a city priest, was today awarded a record ?700,000 in compensation. The victim, known as Mr A, was abused for years by former Catholic priest Fr Christopher Clonan. The award which was announced by a High Court judge is a UK record for a sex abuse case involving a priest. Costs will also be awarded to Mr A, sending the bill to the Catholic Church to more than ?1 million. The victim, now 34, was brought up in the Coundon area. He was abused by the priest from about the age of seven, and the assaults continued into his late teenage years. The abuse, including rape and other serious assaults, was carried out in Coventry at Fr Clonan's room at Christ the King Church, the priest's nearby home, and his second home in Ireland. Mr A sued the Archbishop of Birmingham, and the trustees of the archdiocese, which covers Coventry, claiming they were negligent in their duty of care towards him. The Church accepted the abuse took place but disputed the level of compensation. Mr A claimed up to ?2 million damages. The victim maintained his life had been ruined because of the sexual assaults. He suffers mental health problems, including para-noid schizophrenia, and needs constant care. Clonan was assistant parish priest at Christ the King Church for 20 years. He fled the city in 1992 when Mr A first made his allegations and lived a double life as Chrissy Oliver in Australia. He died there an alcoholic six years later. He never stood trial over the accusations, but the Church accepted his guilt. In an out-of-court settle-ment last January, the Church gave another of Clonan's victims - a former altar boy at Christ the King -?330,000 damages. Peter Jennings, press secretary to the Archbishop of Birmingham, said the archdiocese accepted the judgement in the Mr A case and said the compensation was substantially for the victim's loss of earnings. He added: "The archdiocese deeply regrets that a priest should have misused his position of trust in such a way and apologises again to those who have been abused and offended." Coventry police had prepared a strong case against Clonan and were prepared to have him extradited when it emerged he had died of a brain haemorrhage Mr A's case was based on the principle that the Archbishop and the trustees of the archdiocese were negligent because they should have known that Clonan was a danger to children. It had been established that a complaint of a sexual assault on another child by Clonan had been made in the mid-70s but his superior had taken no action.