Former archbishop Philip Wilson cleared after successful appeal

Former archbishop Philip Wilson will walk free after appealing a landmark conviction that he concealed child sex abuse.

Philip Wilson’s appeal was successful. Picture: Adam Taylor

Former archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson will walk free after successfully appealing a landmark conviction that he concealed child sex abuse.

Judge Roy Ellis delivered the appeal judgment to a courtroom filled with abuse survivors and their relatives at the District Court in Newcastle today.

Wilson was found guilty of concealing child sex abuse in May but later appealed his conviction in November. During the appeal hearing, his barrister Stephen Odgers SC asked Judge Ellis to consider beyond reasonable doubt that the former archbishop of Adelaide failed to disclose to police between 2004 to 2006 about priest James Fletcher indecently assaulting a boy in the Hunter Region in the 1970s.

Judge Ellis ruled that the “conviction and consequential orders of the Local Court are quashed and the appellant is discharged.”

He said that he was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Wilson “knew”, rather than “believed” that the information might be of material assistance in the prosecution of priest James Fletcher.

Judge Ellis said that Mr Wilson was not reminded of the conversation for over a period of 30 years.

“If a person has no memory of an event or occasion they aren’t able to say why. Logically they can only admit that they have no memory,” he said.

“Believing something to be true and accurate does not mean it is true or accurate.”

Mr Odgers argued in the appeal hearing that Wilson wasn’t “explicitly” informed of the sexual assault by the abused 15-year-old so it was not clear for Wilson to “positively believe” it had occurred.

Father Philip Marshall, the Administrator Delegate of Adelaide Archdiocese said he “welcomes the conclusion” of a process that had been “long and painful for all concerned.”

“We now need to consider the ramifications of this outcome,” he said.

“The survivors of child sexual abuse and their families are in our thoughts and prayers, and the Archdiocese remains committed to providing the safest possible environments for children and vulnerable people in our care.”

Fletcher was charged in the 1990s and was sentenced for his offence in 2004, but died in jail from a stroke two years later.

Wilson resigned as Adelaide archbishop earlier this year after becoming the most senior Catholic clergyman in the world to be convicted of concealing child sex abuse.

Before court, Mr Gogarty said he was disappointed that Wilson was absent for the judgement, claiming it was “disrespectful” that he did not want to front the media.