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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Dominion Post
August 9, 2002

Police getting more calls about former priest
by Mark Stevens


Police are analysing fresh information about a man accused of sexually abusing boys while a Catholic priest in New Zealand.

Former Marist priest Alan Woodcock, 54, was arrested in London this week and is facing extradition from Britain.

Upper Hutt-based Detective Sergeant Murray Porter, who is heading the investigation, confirmed he was still receiving information about Woodcock. He was willing to take details and seek legal advice for complainants.

Mr Porter said the latest calls followed nine complaints that had already been actioned. Many of them were from former students of St Patrick's College in Silverstream where Woodcock taught in the 1980s.

Woodcock was denied bail when he appeared in a London court yesterday.

London's Metropolitan Police Extradition Squad arrested Woodcock at Luton airport on Thursday morning (NZ Time) after he returned from a holiday in Greece.

He had been living in Britain since 1995 and worked as a social worker at a Heathrow flight trauma centre till he was made redundant in November.

Woodcock told Bow St Magistrates Court that he understood the charges relating to the alleged indecent assault of one of his male pupils, aged under 16, but he did not enter a plea.

The assaults are alleged to have happened between March and June 1982, at St Patrick's and his home.

Casually dressed in a cotton shirt and jeans, Woodcock, who left the Catholic Church last year, stared blankly as the court was told of his battle with drugs and depression.

His lawyer Penny Muir said her client did not know he was wanted by the New Zealand police as his friends and family had tried to keep the news from him. He had not worked as a priest since arriving in Britain six years ago, she said.

Woodcock developed a class A drug addiction and had been seriously depressed, she told the court. A friend bought him a one-way ticket to Greece to "protect him from what was going on in New Zealand" and improve his health, but he had every intention of returning, she said.

"The whole point of the journey was for him to recover his health, as his friends found him in a desperate state, possibly suicidal."

While holidaying he weaned himself off drugs, resulting in a substantial weight loss. She said he flew back to Britain knowing he would be arrested as she had given police his flight details.

London Extradition Squad Detective Constable Ron Hay objected to bail, arguing that Woodcock had no income or close ties to his family. Woodcock's southwest London flat, which he shares with another social worker, is on the market.

He has been remanded in custody to Brixton Prison till August 14 to allow the New Zealand Government time to appoint a crown prosecutor.