Priest accused of sex abuse in UK also served in Cork

A deceased priest who served for many years in Cork has been named as an alleged child sex abuser in the UK.

It is alleged that Fr Thomas Heley abused young boys in the Catholic parish of Ss Alban and Stephen in Hertfordshire in the late 1970s. The Irish Examiner has since been made aware of allegations of abuse against Fr Heley while he was in Cork, made not long before he moved to the UK.

A member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Fr Heley worked in Cork through the 50s and into the 70s. Last weekend the parish in St Albans published a notice on its website which stated: “we have received historic allegations, dating back several decades, that one of our priests based here in St Alban sexually abused some young people”. The notice did not name the priest but said the person against whom the allegations had been made had died several years ago and both the Hertfordshire Police and the Archdiocese had been informed of the allegations.