A priest who investigated allegations of sex abuse on around 200 deaf children over 24 years defended the Vatican's handling of the case today, saying it was unfair to drag the current Pope into the scandal.

STEVEN GEIER says that four times in the mid-1960s, the Rev Lawrence Murphy coaxed the then-14-year-old student into a closet at St John’s School for the Deaf just outside Milwaukee and molested him, using God to justify his actions.

Former students of a US priest suspected of molesting up to 200 deaf boys have given details of his alleged offences against them.