A 75-YEAR-OLD priest appeared in court today charged with four counts of indecent assault on boys.
Patrick Fitzpatrick, of Holycross Home, Ettrick Grove, Sunderland, dressed in a blue jacket and walking with the aid of a stick, spoke only to confirm his name at the five minute hearing at Hartlepool Magistrates Court.
The priest, who previously taught at St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic School for Boys in Hartlepool, has been charged with one count of indecently assaulting a boy in March 1962, another of indecently assaulting a boy in March 1962, one count of indecently assaulting a boy in August 1963 and one of indecently assaulting a boy in September 1963.
No pleas were entered and the case was adjourned for three weeks until Monday October 20 at Hartlepool Magistrates Court. The charges follow an investigation by the Cleveland Police child protection unit, at Hartlepool.
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