gazettelive.co.uk
16 September 2011
by Gareth Lightfoot, Evening Gazette
A CHILD abuse victim confronted two priests to express his animosity towards the Catholic Church after years of abuse, a court was told.
Alan Elsworth’s ire could have been directed at any Catholic church, priest or school, a court heard.
He focused his attention on the English Martyrs and St Peter and St Paul Church on Redhill Road, Stockton, Teesside Crown Court heard.
He was restrained by churchgoers after he berated a priest conducting mass on April 30 last year.
Prosecutor Jacqui Edwards said: “He was pointing and shouting at the priest and making reference to child abuse.”
He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and a restraining order in July last year for using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. This week, he admitted breaching the restraining.
He went to the same church and confronted a different parish priest on June 9 this year, but the court heard his actions could have been directed at any Catholic priest.
He said: “There is some animosity on his part towards the Catholic Church. The animosity he feels is born of years of systematic abuse when he was a child being educated at a Catholic institution.
“There followed intervention by the Catholic Church in a very long-standing marriage, of 37 years, which caused that marriage to collapse.”
He said Elsworth, 61, now realised a court was not a “soapbox” and sought legal redress through the right channels.
“He understands that he is not to approach or interfere with Catholic institutions of any description,” said Mr McReddie.
Judge Howard Crowson accepted Elsworth, of Cornriggs Walk, Stockton, was driven to behave in his “unorthodox” way by what he believed, after an otherwise productive and honest life. Elsworth was conditionally discharged for one year and ordered to pay £250 costs.
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Alan Elsworth turned on innocent priest after history of abuse in Catholic child care homes
The Northern Echo
9:32am Tuesday 13th July 2010
By Graeme Hetherington
A MAN sexually abused as a child while in the care of the Catholic Church has been ordered to stay away from an innocent priest he was harassing.
Alan Elsworth kept his horrific past a secret for decades, but his life started to unravel when his devout Catholic wife of 30 years tried to persuade him to go to church.
The harassment came to a head when the troubled 60-year-old entered a Teessidechurch during Mass and started shouting that Catholic priests were child abusers.
Elsworth was arrested for causing fear and harassment when he confronted the innocent priest in front of his congregation in April last year, Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard.
Elsworth pleaded guilty to the charge.
In mitigation, Lee Goodchild said: “This is a very difficult case because there is a complex background to all of this. The priest was picked simply because he is a representative of the Catholic Church.
“Mr Elsworth was a child in care homes run by the Church and he was sexually and physically abused over a number of years. He was passed from home to home and was continually abused.”
Mr Goodchild said the pressure from his wife to attend church resulted in the collapse of his marriage and him falling ill.
Elsworth went to the authorities to make a complaint and the priest, who was being investigated as a result, died before its conclusion – resulting in the defendant turning his attention to the innocent priest.
Mr Goodchild added: “There was a number of incidents involving the priest and the situation got to the point where Mr Elsworth went to the church and spoke out during Mass.
“He is clearly a troubled individual and has been advised to move on from this because it is not the best way of dealing with the situation.”
Elsworth, now of Redcar Road, Guisborough, was given a 12- month conditional discharge and was issued with a restraining order forbidding him from harassing the priest for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay £100 towards court costs.
Chairwoman of the bench Alison Monkley said: “This is an unusual case because the defendant does have my sympathy, but the way he acted was not acceptable.”