Former Christian Brother guilty of sex abuse

Paul Dunleavy (pictured in 2018) was found guilty on Thursday

A former teacher and school principal has been convicted of historical child sex abuse.

Paul Dunleavy, with an address at Glen Road in Belfast, was found guilty of 36 charges of historical sexual abuse.

The offences were committed on dates between 1964 and 1991 while the 88-year-old former Christian Brother worked at four schools in Belfast, Newry and Armagh.

The charges included indecent assault and gross indecency with or towards a child.

During the course of the trial at Belfast Crown Court the jury was directed by Judge Patrick Lynch KC to find him not guilty on one count of indecent assault.

Following about five hours of deliberations over two days, the jury of six men and six women returned unanimous verdicts on the 31 counts of indecent assault, one of attempted buggery and two counts of gross indecency.

The judge then said that he would accept a majority verdict on the remaining two counts.

The jury found Dunleavy guilty of the two remaining charges by an 11-1 majority.

The jury had already been told that Dunleavy had been convicted on two separate occasions of a series of sexual offences against children in his care at a number of schools where he taught.

Dunleavy, dressed in a red coat and who listened to the proceedings through headphones, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out.

The defendant was remanded back in custody to be sentenced next month following the completion of a medical report.