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  Child Abusers 'Will Not Go Undetected'

By Steve Chilton
ic Coventry [Britain]
July 1, 2005

A Roman Catholic archbishop has assured the people of Coventry that paedophile priests like Fr Christopher Clonan can no longer go undetected.

Yesterday one of Fr Clonan's victims - known as Mr A - was awarded - 700,000 for years of sexual abuse he suffered as a child and teenager.

With costs, the bill to the Birmingham archdiocese, which covers Coventry, will be more than - 1 million.

The priest worked for 20 years at Christ the King Church, Westhill Road, Coundon.

After he fled the city in 1992, it emerged there were accusations of sexual abuse against him by several victims dating from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s.

Today the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, moved to reassure parishioners, saying that he was sure if there were any other pervert priests like Clonan they would be exposed early.

"I can say that with confidence. We have worked hard for three or four years now and where there is a cleric suspected we act. That was needed.

"I think the people at Christ the King are level-headed about this case and they know it was one man (Clonan) who bears the burden of what he did."

He welcomed the decision of the court and defended the archdiocese's action in contesting the level of the award although it had accepted the victim had been abused.

"I have a whole lot of responsibilities, to Charity Law and to our insurers and at every step I have taken advice.

"Not at any stage have I been obstructive. But there is a long-established legal pattern."

There are likely to be at least two other claims against the archdiocese from other victims of Fr Clonan, who died of a brain haemorrhage in Australia in 1998 while living a secret life there.

He was never brought to trial. The archbishop said he had not met Mr A but said he would be willing to talk to him or his family.

Representatives from the archdiocese had been in contact with the victim since 1992 and had provided practical help which included paying for medical treatment.

In a statement issued on behalf of the archdiocese, spokesman Peter Jennings said: "The archdiocese deeply regrets that a priest should have totally misused his position of trust in such a way and apologises again to those who have been abused and offended.

"The damage that he has done is deep and lasting. "

The archdiocese hopes this settle-ment will bring some resolution of the distress and anguish experienced by the claimant and his family." The archdiocese regretted that Fr Clonan would never face a court to answer for his crimes but added: "He will however have to answer for his behaviour before the throne of God."