Friday, May 04, 2012

Priest: Gay porn images weren’t mine

The parish priest who caused uproar when he projected pornographic images during a presentation at a school in Tyrone has said he destroyed the computer memory stick on which the material was held.

A sacristy laptop was also stolen two weeks after 16 gay sex images were shown on screen during a meeting for parents in preparation for their children’s First Communion.

Announcing that he is to take sabbatical leave, Fr Martin McVeigh, parish priest of Pomeroy in the North, on Sunday last issued an apology to parishioners and insisted he had nothing to do with the gay porn he projected to the 26 parents and one eight-year-old boy during a Powerpoint presentation at St Mary’s Primary School on Mar 26.

The priest, as well as Catholic primate Cardinal Sean Brady, issued statements last Sunday where Fr McVeigh denied being responsible for the images.

Fr McVeigh said: "The last month has been the most difficult of my life. I deeply regret my failure to check, in advance, my presentation. I had no knowledge of any offending imagery existing in it. After the images were inadvertently shown, I immediately removed the memory stick from the laptop. In my shock and upset and in my concern to ensure that the images would never be shown again, I destroyed it later that evening."

A spokesman for the PSNI said it had been informed of the incident on Mar 30. It had not been shown or conducted any forensic examination of computer equipment as the indication was that no crime had been committed.

The spokesman added that on the morning of Apr 9 they had received a report of an overnight burglary and the theft of a laptop from the sacristy.

Fr McVeigh said he appreciated the incident was very serious in nature and caused much anxiety and distress, particularly to those who were present. His statement to parishioners added: "I apologise unreservedly for the hurt caused. I want to assure you, however, that I was not responsible for the presence of the offending images and in this respect I ask you to accept my innocence."

He said he had taken the decision to ask Cardinal Brady to allow him to leave the parish of Pomeroy and to take sabbatical leave.

Fr McVeigh added: "The memory of this awful episode will remain with me for the rest of my life."

Cardinal Brady said the archdiocese of Armagh had conducted an investigation that included a technical examination of parish computers. 

However, he said a laptop had been stolen in the aftermath of the presentation and could not be included in that examination.