FATHER Michael Higginbottom was suspended by the Catholic Church without explanation in December 2004.

No official reason was given for the action. His parishioners at St Augustine’s Church, in Darlington, were left angry and bewildered. Many of them lobbied vociferously for his reinstatement. Others sent him gifts and cards when The Northern Echo revealed that he had been sent to a monastic retreat near Consett.

In 2007, police said no allegations of a sexual or violent nature had been made against Fr Higginbottom. This was incorrect. Just months earlier the Catholic Church had paid out £35,000 to a man who claimed he had been sexually assaulted by Fr Higginbottom and another priest at a training college. The Church never admitted any liability but it paid to make the allegations go away.

The payout remained a secret until The Northern Echo revealed the details in 2013.

Such a disgraceful state of affairs would be unacceptable in any other profession and it is wrong that it had to take a newspaper to unlock the secrecy.

Now Fr Higginbottom has been found guilty in a court of law the church will, no doubt, be hoping this awful episode fades rapidly from the collective memory.

However, we believe there are a number of disturbing questions still to be answered, not least what were the checks and balances on the conduct of the clergy who oversaw Fr Higginbottom’s case.

It needs to tell us what has been done to prevent such a situation arising again and, most important of all, it can say ‘Sorry’ to Fr Higginbottom’s victim.

Hiding behind a wall of silence was a terrible mistake. The Catholic Church declares that its doctrine on morals and faith is infallible. Sadly, its conduct in the matter of Fr Michael Higginbottom was anything but.