Church admits further mistakes over sex abuse

The Catholic church is understood to have admitted yesterday that the Archbishop of Westminster made errors in dealing with a priest charged with child abuse – less than a month after the Archbishop apologised over a similar case.

In 1995, the Archbishop, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, then the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, allowed Father Christopher Maxwell-Stewart to keep conducting services at his parish in Leatherhead, Surrey, despite reported warnings that he was a risk to children. A case against Father Maxwell-Stuart had collapsed because the alleged victim, a girl aged nine, could not give evidence, apparently due to a medical condition caused by the abuse.

The current Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Kieran Conry, reportedly said last night that the case had not been handled in a way that was appropriate by today's standards.

Last month, the Archbishop admitted he had made "grave" mistakes in dealing with Michael Hill. He had appointed Hill, now serving his second five-year sentence for child abuse, to a chaplaincy at Gatwick airport in 1985 despite complaints against him.