Retired former Newcastle assistant bishop denies being told of abuse

But despite this evidence, and through a long and probing session of examination by commissioner Peter McClellan and counsel assisting Naomi Sharp, Bishop Appleby insisted he had never known of any sex abuse in his parish, and would have fought it “decisively” had anyone told him.

So ended the third day of the Newcastle Anglican sittings of the Royal Commission, with the retired bishop due to take the witness stand again on Friday morning.

It was a day that began with evidence from a retired former “country archdeacon”, Colvin Ford, who described how he dealt with the 1988 discovery of a hoard of homosexual pornography – allegedly including child pornography – in the Maitland rectory belonging to a priest, Peter Rushton, who died in 2007 and was acknowledged by the church three years later as a serial paedophile.

Evidence was heard from a victim, CKA, about abuse by a priest, CKC, who the commission heard is likely to face a retrial after an initial trial in 2001 was “no-billed” by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The commission heard there are now “serious doubts” about a church register that gave the priest an alibi. The commission heard CKA’s older brother, CKL, recount his mother’s complaints to the church about the abuse in the 1970s that CKA and another brother, CKB, endured at the hands of CKC.

In the afternoon session, Bishop Appleby repeatedly said he had “no recollection” of any matters involving paedophile priests during his time in Newcastle. Bishop Appleby denied being told by CKA about CKC’s abuse, denied he had been told by Teresa Ann Burns – who gave evidence on Wednesday – about paedophile lay figure James Brown, denied being told about Rushton and denied knowing about problems at the Morpeth seminary.

He said he had gone to Wyong in 1990 to secure the resignation of a priest, Stephen Gray, but had never inquired why Bishop Holland wanted Gray gone. He said he only recently learned that Gray had sexually abused a boy. To repeated questions from the commission, Bishop Appleby said he could not recall meetings described by others in evidence. But although he could not recall them, he was certain child sex abuse was not mentioned because if it had been, he would have acted decisively against it.