A CATHOLIC priest accused of sexually abusing a young boy nearly 40 year ago has strenuously denied the allegations.

Father Michael Higginbottom told a jury on Friday that none of the allegations against him were true.

He also told Liverpool Crown Court that he did not even remember the alleged victim, who is now aged 52.

The complainant has claimed that while he was a pupil at St Joseph’s College, a seminary for prospective priests, in Upholland, West Lancashire, Higginbottom repeatedly seriously sexually assaulted him.

The four storey seminary, which no longer exists, catered for boys aged about 11 to 18, many of whom were considering a vocation in the priesthood and they boarded there during term time.

Fr Higginbottom, now aged 74, of West Farm Road in Newcastle, denies eight offences alleged to have taken place between September 1978 and March 20, 1979.

The priest served at St Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, in Darlington, for several years until 2004.

David Temkin, prosecuting, has claimed that for the alleged victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, the college was the venue for ‘mental, physical and sexual abuse’.

The man claims it began just days after he started at the college when he was 12 or 13 and it ended when he deliberately stole a watch so that he would be expelled.

It is suggested by the priest’s legal team that he has made the allegations to obtain financial compensation, which he has denied.

Questioned by his barrister Adam Birkby, Fr Higginbottom has told the jury of six men and six women, that he did not know the alleged victim and had not sexually abused him in any way.

He also disputed the man’s claims that he used a strap and cane on him as punishment.

He did agree he had used a Vandergraph generator, used to demonstrate electrostatics, and gave pupils a mild electric shock but said it always made them laugh.

  • The case continues.