 Cornelius Horan denies charges of gross indecency |
A priest stripped and exposed himself to a seven-year-old girl in his bed-sit at a church, the Old Bailey has heard. Cornelius Horan, 57, of Nunhead, denies gross indecency with a child between 1990 and 1992 in south-east London.
The prosecution said the child and her mother visited Mr Horan in his room at St Anthony's Church, Penge, to learn about Catholicism.
On the first day of the trial it was alleged the girl's mother stopped Mr Horan putting her on his lap.
Frank McGrath prosecuting said that when Mr Horan was arrested in March this year, he admitted to police that he had been naked.
Mr McGrath also said the defendant wrote to police saying he had taken his shorts off and was "lying on the bed with the girl and her mother passionately tickling me".
The prosecution said that in another written statement Mr Horan told police he had chased the child while being naked for over an hour.
The girl, now 20, told the Old Bailey that her mother contacted the police after a visit to another priest this year.
The case continues.
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