Compensation for former altar boy

Simon Grey would have liked his case heard in open court

The Roman Catholic Church has agreed to pay more than £300,000 in compensation to a former altar boy who was sexually abused by a priest.

Lawyers acting for Simon Grey said the out-of-court settlement being paid to the 38-year-old was believed to be the highest amount in connection with an individual abuse case involving a UK priest.

The settlement was reached just days before Mr Grey was to due to sue the Archdiocese of Birmingham in the High Court for failing to act on claims that assistant parish priest Christopher Clonan posed a danger to children.

Mr Grey, originally from Coundon, Coventry, was abused while attending the city's Christ The King Church, where Father Clonan worked for 20 years.

Other cases

The father-of-three, who had been seeking £1m, said: "I am glad it is all over, obviously, but in some ways I am feeling a little deflated.

"I would have liked to have my case heard in open court, but pursuing that principle could have cost me money and my sanity."

Mr Grey, who now lives in Leicester, added: "I suffered serious abuse and that was what this was about: my abuse and others' abuse."

Mr Grey's solicitor, John Housden, said the Birmingham Archdiocese had accepted liability for breaching its duty of care to Mr Grey between 1975 and 1981 - after it was made aware of sex abuse allegations.

The lawyer, of Wokingham-based Clifton Ingram solicitors, said the firm was acting for four further clients in respect of Father Clonan and three other men in relation to allegations against another priest previously employed in the West Midlands.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Birmingham, said: "We are pleased that a settlement has now been reached. We do not wish to add anything else at the present time."

Father Clonan fled abroad when the sex abuse accusations publicly surfaced in 1992 and was reported to have died of natural causes in Australia in 1998.