Whistleblower welcomes paedophile priest jailing

Timothy Gardner was jailed for eight and a half years

A whistleblower in the Catholic church has welcomed the jailing of a paedophile ex-priest who was caught online offering advice on how to abuse children.

Timothy Gardner, 53, was jailed for eight and a half years at Newcastle Crown Court after being caught in an undercover police operation.

Gardner was a close associate of Bishop Robert Byrne, who resigned from the Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle amid serious concerns over his friendship with the priest in December 2022.

The diocese's former safeguarding head, Angie Richardson, said she had previously raised major concerns about the bishop's closeness to Gardner but they were ignored.

She said Gardner's jail term, which included a further year to be served on extended licence upon his release, "reflected the seriousness of his offending".

She also said she still had concerns about the diocese, which had chosen to keep a page dedicated to Bishop Emeritus Byrne on its website without any mention of the scandal surrounding him.

Angie Richardson said her concerns about Bishop Byrne's friendship with Gardner were ignored

"It is really quite insulting," Ms Richardson told the BBC, adding: "The message given out to people of the diocese and to victims is 'this man is incredibly important and he has this status'.

"It appears that his reputation is much more important than caring for victims and survivors and all the people in the diocese who have been left disillusioned."

Bishop Byrne, who has declined to comment, resigned, with the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) finding serious failings in his leadership.

Ms Richardson also said the diocese should apologise for "what they got wrong" in relation to Bishop Byrne.

'Abuse treated seriously'

A diocese spokesman said it had "not refused to acknowledge past failings" but rather had "twice apologised publicly for them".

He said Gardner did not work in the diocese and the current bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, Stephen Wright, had never met him.

"The diocese is dedicated to the effective safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in its parishes and institutions and we treat any allegation of abuse extremely seriously," the spokesman said.

"It is simply untrue to suggest that the diocese is lax in any respect of safeguarding."

He said the CSSA's latest report from February found "good practice" across all eight safeguarding areas.

In relation to the webpage about Bishop Byrne, the spokesman said the title Bishop Emeritus was simply a description of his status as a living, former bishop and was "not a judgement of him".

He said the content of the website had already been amended in accordance with requests of victims and survivors of abuse but it was "not prepared to mislead people by giving false information".

A review by the Dicastery for Bishops found Bishop Byrne ignored warnings about his "inappropriate relationship " with Gardner.