Court date set for ex-Northampton priest charged with child sex offences

A retired priest of the Diocese of Northampton charged with 20 child sexual abuse offences will appear at a crown court next month for the start of his trial.
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A retired priest of the Diocese of Northampton charged with 20 child sexual abuse offences will appear at a crown court next month for the start of his trial.

Francis McDermott, who withdrew from active ministry in 2005, was charged on September 3 for offences he is alleged to have committed between 1971 and 1978.

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The 75-year-old of Atlantic Way, Westwood Ho, Biddeford, Devon, faces 20 charges of non-recent sexual offences which took place in High Wycombe and Norwich.

The case will be heard at Aylesbury Crown Court on November 6.

McDermott is charged with the following in relation to six victims: one count of rape of a female under the age of 16, one count of a male person committing buggery with a boy under 16; one count of gross indecency of girl under the age of 14; four counts of gross indecency of a boy under the age of 14; one count of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 14; eight counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14; three counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16 and one count of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 16.