A man who suffered abuse at the hands of a Roman Catholic father has received a record £600,000 in damages.
Father Christopher Clonan abused the victim, known simply as A, as a child over a ten-year period whilst working at the Christ the King Church in Coventry in the Birmingham archdiocese from 1977 until 1988.
This is the second abuse victim to win damages against Father Clonan, who died in Australia in 1998 while on the run from the British police. In 2003, Simon Grey was paid £300,000 by the Church in an out-of-court settlement.
The £635,684 sum awarded by the High Court in Manchester against the defendants, the Archbishop of Birmingham and the trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, could soar to one million pounds after all costs have been included.
The Roman Catholic Church now faces a list of other claims by sex abuse victims that could total millions of pounds.
At the High Court on Thursday, Mr Justice Christopher Clarke said that the abuse had been regular – between one and three times a week.
He said, "The abuse went undetected for so long because, initially, A did not comprehend what was going on, and latterly he was too afraid to speak, thinking that he would not be believed, as Father Clonan told him would be the case."
In a statement, the Archdiocese of Birmingham 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.
