More embarrassment for Australia's Anglicans

Australia’s Anglican Church suffered further embarrassment today as it was revealed that the co-author of a report into paedophilia within the church had admitted in court to having sex with a 15-year-old girl.

The church has been under fire over claims that clergy and staff at its schools abused children and that senior figures then covered up the abuse.

A former Anglican archbishop, Peter Hollingworth, was forced to resign as the Queen’s representative in Australia over allegations he covered up church abuse in the 1990s and a separate claim that he raped a woman more than 40 years ago when he was a young priest.

In the latest embarrassment, Michael James Crowley, a 59-year-old psychologist, confessed to seducing a 15-year-old girl in 1974 when he was a 31-year-old teacher.

Crowley had been hired in 1997 to hold an inquiry into paedophilia and sexual misconduct within the church in Tasmania,

Prosecutor Tim Ellis said Crowley – who showered the girl with letters and gifts before having sex with her – displayed “classical grooming behaviour typical of predatory child abusers”.

Ellis said Crowley told his victim he loved her when she was just 12-years-old. Their relationship, which became sexual when she was 15, lasted for a year and resulted in an abortion.

“His seduction of her was carried out entirely for his own gratification and with no apparent concern for the consequences on the complainant,” Ellis said.

Crowley is due to be sentenced on Thursday.