Paedophile priest housed for free by Catholic Church.

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday February 11, 2002 21:06 by Ferganoid - WWW.StopAbuse.org

A paedophile priest who abused nine boys is living rent-free in a flat owned by the Roman Catholic Church, the BBC has discovered.

One of Father Michael Hill's victims said he was "sickened" to learn the disgraced priest was being helped by the Church, 14 months after his release from prison.

The Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton, which had employed Hill as chaplain to Gatwick Airport in 1985 even though he had had his licence revoked, said it had a duty to house him.

The Church said it arranged his accommodation in the £100,000 flat, three minutes walk from a primary school, at the request of the probation authorities to help ensure he was properly supervised.

Learning difficulties

Hill, who had served three years of a five-year sentence, was tracked down by Radio 4's Today programme, which did not name the town he is in.

He had been jailed for abusing boys, including a child with learning difficulties, who he met through his work with the Church.

One of Hill's victims - named only as Peter - said: "I went to see Father Hill when I was homeless as a teenager and Father Hill abused me, betrayed my trust and betrayed the trust I had in the Catholic Church.

"It is absolute hypocrisy that the Church should be giving solace to this man and yet his victims like myself have had to fight tooth and nail for everything.

"I think the Church have a duty of care to the victims and more time should be given to helping the victims rather than helping the priest who committed crimes."

The Church authorities had to pay compensation to victims of Hill. After they lost a case in court.

'I am very disappointed,' said Steve Messham for North Wales abuse survivors. 'The tribunal made us relive the abuse we had suffered, but for what? We have had no help, support, counselling or compensation'