A Roman Catholic bishop tried to find work for a priest despite knowing he was a registered sex offender, an official report has said.
Bishop Robert Byrne, was formerly of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle until he stood down in December. He also ignored safeguarding warnings to appoint a dean at St Mary’s Cathedral who had groomed young people, and who killed himself in 2021 after police began to investigate him.
The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) reviewed safeguarding at the diocese and found it is currently meeting minimum standards. It also looked at how Bishop Byrne ran the diocese and it found that the way he undermined safeguarding had the potential to put people at risk, amounting to “serious failures of leadership”.
