Paedophile Priest Grave 'For Sale'

An Abbey belonging to the religious order from which paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth came is up for sale - to include his previously unmarked grave.

Kilnacrott Abbey and 44 acres of land in the Irish Republic, including the last resting place of the notorious priest, is for sale.

The property, at Ballyjamesduff could realise over €3m for the Norbertine Order, who are building a new one.

In a statement, the order say that after much consideration they had decided to dispose of Holy Trinity Abbey and the surrounding land.

The order failed to say if any of the money would go to the dozens of victims of the deviant priest, who fled to Kilnacrott when on the run from the RUC for paedophile crimes in Northern Ireland.

"We will of course continue to offer support and maintain contact with those people who were so wrongly abused by one of our priests," the Norbertines said.

"We want to assure people of this local area, who have been so incredibly supportive to us in the challenging times that we will be staying in the area — and provide services."

The priest was buried in the Norbertine plot and the grave lay unmarked for a time.

A seven-month delay in extraditing him to Northern Ireland ended the Republic's Albert Reynolds-led coalition.

(BMcC)