![\"‘It’s](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/FJ7XXBMJZVCZBH6VCCKCQA74TM.jpeg\")
<\/a>![\"Despair](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/R4QUXREEFNMRVOYYB2VBWIYHZ4.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDunleavy had already been behind bars after he was previously convicted on two separate occasions of sexual offences against children.<\/p>\n
Over three trials the predator, who retired in 1997, was convicted of 72 offences involving 18 victims in total.<\/p>\n
Offences included indecent assault, attempted buggery and gross indecency with or towards a child.<\/p>\n
Concerns were raised last year after The Congregation of Christian Brothers confirmed that despite the convictions Dunleavy remained a member of the order.<\/p>\n
It is understood the convicted sex offender died in hospital after being taken from Maghaberry Prison.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the Prison Service said: \u201cThe Northern Ireland Prison Service can confirm the death of an 89-year-old male prisoner from Maghaberry at an outside hospital. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs with standard procedure, the PSNI, Coroner and Prisoner Ombudsman have been informed.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Dunleavy\u2019s victims, who was abused as a schoolboy, aged between 10 and 11, more than 50 years ago, has welcomed his death.<\/p>\n
The victim, who does not want to be named, was singled out by Dunleavy when he attended Abbey Christian Brothers PS in Newry in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<\/p>\n
Now aged in his 60s, the man said Dunleavy was due to appeal his conviction in October and that he had recently been contacted by police to attend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been an easy journey from the time he got sentenced until now,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted to hear he is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man said when he was initially shocked to hear his abuser had died adding that he had been worried \u201cabout going back to court\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorrying about the fact that he might get his sentence overturned and that (he) might get out because I was hoping he would die in prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got my wish eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victim said he was glad because \u201cI got my time in court and that he got a conviction for what he did to me\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted with that and that it\u2019s not going to be overturned now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t be happier, I just hope it\u2019s an unmarked grave and they can never find him.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Solicitor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GGXSCYRMX5C7BFNWROHGJA5GOQ.jpg\")
Solicitor Owen Beattie <\/p>\n
Solicitor Owen Beattie, of Owen Beattie Solicitors, who represents several victims, said \u201cthe shadow of Paul Dunleavy covers a history of systemic abuse perpetrated on an industrial scale across the country\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe questionable conduct of the Christian Brothers throughout this period is still under intensive investigation which will be factored into ongoing litigation before the High Court,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Kevin Winters, of KRW Law, who represents several victims said \u201cmany victims are frustrated that Dunleavy never lived to see out his sentences\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cMany clients I\u2019ve spoken with are annoyed that he prolonged their distress in fighting cases he really should have pleaded guilty to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A victim of prolific paedophile Paul Dunleavy has said he is \u201cdelighted\u201d after the Christian Brother died while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,23637,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-32117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-conviction","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news","23":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}