{"id":31210,"date":"2025-04-18T21:26:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T21:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/31210\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T21:26:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T21:26:17","slug":"derry-priest-charged-with-attempted-sexual-communication-with-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/31210\/","title":{"rendered":"Derry: Priest charged with attempted sexual communication with a child"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The priest, aged in his 50s, was arrested outside a hotel in Londonderry\u00a0(stock image)<\/p>\n

A Catholic priest has been charged with attempted sexual communication with a child in Londonderry. <\/p>\n

On Thursday evening, videos circulated online of a man in clerical garb being challenged by self-styled paedophile hunters.<\/p>\n

The man, aged in his 50s, was then arrested outside a hotel<\/a> in the Derry area. <\/p>\n

In a new statement, the PSNI confirmed he has been charged with attempted sexual communication with a child.<\/p>\n

He is due to appear before a special sitting of Derry Magistrates\u2019 Court on Saturday, sitting at Dungannon Magistrates\u2019 Court.<\/p>\n

A PSNI spokesperson said: \u201cPolice in Derry\/Londonderry have charged a 58-year-old man with attempted sexual communication with a child.<\/p>\n

“As is usual procedure, the charge will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service.\u201d <\/p>\n

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Derry said: \u201cThe Diocese of Derry is aware of an incident outside a hotel in Derry city involving a priest of this diocese.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe diocese knows that a video of the incident has been posted online and we understand the PSNI have been involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, the diocese has no further information.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Diocese of Derry serves the Catholic congregation of 51 parishes across almost all of Co Londonderry, parts of Co Tyrone and Co Donegal, and a small area across the River Bann in Co Antrim. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The priest, aged in his 50s, was arrested outside a hotel in Londonderry\u00a0(stock image) A Catholic priest has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[13744,1144,1610,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-31210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-catholic-church","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114361085747797173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}