Fr. Daniel Curran
Among those priests who had been been exposed earlier was Daniel Curran, a pal of Fortune, with whom it is feared he had formed an unholy alliance to abuse children. Curran, dubbed ‘The Devil’s Disciple’, walked free from jail in 1998 after serving a seven-year sentence for a series of horrific attacks on nine young boys aged between 11 and 13. He had links with Fortune dating back to Fortune’s time as a curate on the Ormeau Road. Curran, who had been linked with St Paul’s church on the Falls Road was back in court in 2005 accused of, on two occasions between June 1986 and June 1989, plying a young Boy Scout with booze before sexually abusing him after he had passed out drunk. Curran, who admitted two counts of indecent assault at Downpatrick Crown Court, was handed an 18-month sentence which was suspended for two years.
In June, a Belfast priest, Fr Daniel Curran, was jailed for seven years after admitting a series of sex offences against boys. A paedophile alcoholic, he had taken boys to an isolated cottage, plied them with alcohol and abused them. One boy told police: “I never told anyone about it because I thought it would be a sin if I did.”
A team of detectives from the Royal Ulster Constabulary is conducting an ever-widening investigation into alleged abuse by priests. It is likely to go on for months if not years. Two priests appeared in court last week, and more are on the way. A priest warned recently: “We are only at the tip of the iceberg. Be prepared for at least five years of even more sickening revelations.”
A priest who admitted sexually abusing a young boy scout has been given an 18 month suspended sentence. Father Daniel Curran pleaded guilty at Downpatrick Crown Court to indecently assaulting the boy on two occasions between 14 June 1986 and 15 June 1989. At the time, Curran was a priest at Saint Paul’s parish in Belfast and chaplain to a scout troop. Curran has already served seven years in jail for abusing nine other boys in the 1990s. Passing the sentence, which was suspended for two years, the judge said Curran had already been given a “severe punishment” at the time. “In the circumstances I don’t think I should send you back to prison,” he stated. Both instances of abuse had taken place at a house in Tyrella in County Down, where Curran had taken the boy on two separate occasions. His defence barrister said the key problem Curran had in his life at that time was his alcoholism and excessive drinking. He said his client no longer drank and had undergone intensive psycho-sexual counselling. Since his release from jail in 1998 he had been living quietly with his elderly parents in Newcastle and had not come to the attention of the police in any way, the barrister said. He asked the court to accept that his client had now been “effectively rehabilitated”.
- Catholic church under pressure to stop the sale of paedophile’s book
The Catholic church in Northern Ireland is facing demands that it withdraw a book it has been selling which was secretly written by a convicted paedophile. Where Donard Guards was written under a pseudonym by Father Daniel Curran, who has three convictions for sex offences against young boys. The priest tried to hide his identity by using the nom de plume “Nicholas Russell”.
The book – one of the biggest local sellers in Northern Ireland over Christmas – was advertised in the bulletin at Maghera parish, County Down, as “a quality history of Newcastle … written by a parishioner” and available for sale in the parish shop. Curran lives in Newcastle, a seaside resort at the foot of the Mourne mountains.
The parish priest, Father Albert McNally, said: “I have nothing to say about it. It was presented to me as a book by Nicholas Russell. It is a book about local history
Curran has admitted he was the book’s publisher but insisted it was written by Nicholas Russell. However he could not give any contact details for Nicholas Russell. His agent, Eamon McMullan, said he would “prefer not to comment” on why a decision was taken to allow Curran to write the book under a pseudonym.
He received a seven-year jail sentence in 1995 after admitting a litany of sex offences on nine young boys. He was given an 18-month suspended sentence in 2005 for indecently assaulting a 10th boy in the 1980s. And in 2006 he received a 14-month sentence after pleading guilty to five counts of indecent assault on a boy between 1977 and 1982.
Fr. Curran was a priest at Saint Paul’s parish falls road in Belfast and chaplain to a scout troop.
- Paedophile priest returned to prison [25 May 2006]
A Catholic priest who had previously served a jail term for indecently assaulting young children, has today been returned to prison for a second time. Daniel Curran, 56, from Bryansford Avenue in Newcastle, Co Down, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault against a young child, between 1977 and 1982.
Fifteen other counts against the same victim were left on the books.
A Prosecution Lawyer today told Belfast Crown Court that the victim had been abused on a regular basis over five years. The court heard that the abuse began when Curran formed a relationship with the victim’s mother, and often took part in overnight drinking sessions with members of the family. A defence lawyer said the priest had “shown great remorse.” He was today given a sentence of another 14 months. It is understood that Curran has already spent seven years in prison for indecently assaulting nine children.
And once again – for the fourth time!!
See weblog article detailing his sentencing to four years in prison for these offences