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  Diocese Accepts Swales Judgment
London Catholic Church Officials Said They Have No Plans to Appeal the Ruling

By Peter Geigen-Miller
London Free Press [Canada]
February 4, 2004

Catholic church officials in London have no plans to appeal this week's court judgment awarding a London family more than $1.3 million in damages for sexual abuse by a priest, a senior official said yesterday. Rev. Tony Daniels, vicar-general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of London, said in a statement the diocese accepts the court's ruling, delivered Monday by Superior Court Justice John Kerr.

"We have no appetite for an appeal," said Daniels.

The damages were awarded to the Swales family in a 72-page judgment from Kerr.

Brothers John, Ed and Guy Swales, their sister, Melody and parents, Bob and Donna Swales, sued the diocese and Rev. Barry Glendinning, a retired priest and one-time teacher at St. Peter's Seminary in London.

The damages awarded this week were for the impact of sexual abuse of the Swales children by Glendinning during the early 1970s.

Reacting to the decision by the diocese not to appeal, John Swales expressed cautious relief yesterday.

But he noted a Toronto case in which he said church officials initially indicated they would not appeal but then did.

"I'm hopeful in this case that all parties will take the decision for what it is and accept it," he said.

 
 

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