Catholic Priest who had been secretly married for 10yrs is found guilty of sexual assault on a 17yr old girl

A Catholic priest who had been secretly married for more than a decade was on at the weekend, warned he may go to jail for sexually assaulting a teenage girl on Easter Sunday last year.


William Finnegan, 59, known to his parishioners as Father Bill, denied forcefully kissing the 17-year-old and touching her bottom, but was found guilty by jurors at Bradford Crown Court.

It took the jury almost a day of deliberating before returning a verdict of guilty, prompting gasps and cries from Finnegan's supporters in the public gallery, where the young victim was also sitting.


Recorder of Bradford Judge Roger Thomas QC told Finnegan 'there's a lot of thought to be given' about the sentence he will receive, which could include an immediate prison term.


Judge Thomas said: 'This case, albeit sexual assault of the least type, does have to it factors of another type.


'What the ultimate sentence will be, I have an entirely open mind about but that ranges from immediate imprisonment to other arrangements of a community nature.'


Sensationally he reveled during the trial he broke his vows by marrying one of his parishioners in a civil ceremony abroad and then continued to do his job.

Far from being a celibate priest, Finnegan was enjoying an active sex life with his wife, the jury heard.
The revelation was made by Finnegan’s barrister as part of his defence case during the trial at Bradford Crown Court.
Judge Roger Thomas, QC, asked Finnegan before he gave evidence: ‘Your public announcement of this today is news to everyone?’
The defendant replied: ‘It is, and I will be dealt with.’

Finnegan was parish priest at St Clare’s Roman Catholic Church in Fagley, Bradford, when the assault happened on Easter Sunday last year.

He denied sexually assaulting the teenager by touching her bottom and forcefully kissing her.

Jeremy Hill-Baker, defending, told the jury: ‘You may be thinking that he is only human, that Father Bill, as a Catholic priest, has taken a vow of celibacy, condemning himself to a single and lonely life filled with perhaps an underlying sexual frustration because, let’s face it, it is not a natural state for a human to be in.

‘It would be understandable for you to be thinking, “Well, perhaps it just got the best of him with that 17-year-old”.’


Mr Hill-Baker then dropped the bombshell that Finnegan married Mrs Dawson, a mother of two, in Cyprus in September 1999.

Mr Hill-Baker told the jury: ‘No, you didn’t mishear me.’ He said: ‘So deeply in love was he that he was prepared to ignore the Catholic Church’s ban on marriage, a secret which has been kept from almost everyone until now.'

The court heard ‘Father Bill’ met Mrs Dawson during his previous post when he was a priest in Castleford and she was a parishioner.

After her previous marriage broke down, they fell in love and married. Only trusted friends and family were told.

Mr Hill-Baker said: ‘Far from being celibate, they enjoyed a full and active sex life.’ Questioned by the judge, Finnegan said he had been ‘suspended and simply ignored’ since the sex assault allegation came to light. He said his marriage would not be recognised by the Catholic Church because he was a priest.
The court heard that the girl and her family were known to Finnegan.

Richard Walters, prosecuting, said: ‘He regularly asked her for hugs and on occasions he called her his surrogate daughter.’


Jurors heard that as well as touching and kissing her inappropriately, Finnegan told the girl she was ‘amazing and beautiful’.


Two days later he arrived at her home when her parents were out and said he had had sexual feelings for her for some time. He then talked about buying her an expensive birthday present, which the prosecution said amounted to a bribe.


The girl told her mother who reported Finnegan.


The priest told the jury the girl kissed him and he did nothing wrong. He said: ‘She tiptoed towards me, placed her hands on my waist and kissed me on the lips.’
The priest said he forcefully pushed the girl away and told her: ‘That’s not to happen.’


Mr Walters said: ‘Rather than tell us the truth, you would rather brand that young girl a liar.’ Finnegan responded: ‘I have just taken the oath. I’m not lying.’


Giving evidence, Mrs Dawson said she and her husband had never permanently lived together but saw each other regularly, had a sexual relationship and went on holidays together.


She said each week after he finished his church services on Sunday he would visit her, then go back to work on Tuesday.


She said on the day in question, Finnegan had phoned her and told her he had been kissed by the teenage girl.


‘He was shocked,’ she said.

Finnegan, of Castleford, who will now have to register as a sex offender, denied forcing himself upon the teenager last Easter.


After swearing an oath on the bible, he told the court she had kissed him and said he had been suspended and ignored by the Catholic Church following the incident.


Finnegan will be sentenced following reports on April 11.

Culled from DAILY MAIL