Defrocked priest convicted of raping boy

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, was convicted today of raping and fondling a boy at his church during the 1980s.

The conviction on all four charges gives prosecutors a high-profile victory in their effort to bring paedophile priests to justice for decades of abuse at Roman Catholic parishes around the United States.

The victim, now 27, put his head down as the verdicts were announced after a Cambridge, Massachusetts, trial that turned on the reliability of what he claimed were recovered memories of the long-ago abuse.

Shanley showed no emotion as he stood beside his lawyers.