British priest received pension while avoiding authorities for alleged sexual abuse of 16 children. A suspected paedophile
priest, British-born Ronald Pickering, reportedly received almost
AU$200,000 (£97,000) from the Archdiocese of Melbourne for almost a
decade after he evaded Australian authorities in 1993 and fled to his
homeland, where he died in 2009.
The Sunday Age newspaper in Melbourne
reported on 10 January that Pickering, who is believed to have abused at
least 16 children but never faced justice, was one of a number of
abusive priests who received pension, housing and private medical
insurance benefits while victims received one-off payments of $31,000 to
$37,000 under the church's Melbourne Response redress scheme.