Former Christian Brother guilty of sex abuse

A former teacher and school principal accused of historical child sex abuse has been found guilty.

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

The offences are alleged to have been 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.

After five hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously found Dunleavy guilty of 34 of the 36 charges.

A short time after being directed by the judge that he would accept a majority verdict on the remaining two counts, the jury returned.

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

The jury of six men and six women 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.

He is due to be sentenced on 25 October.