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Ex-Priest Alexander Bede Walsh Given 12-Month Sentence for 1980s Child Assault

The additional term does not affect his scheduled October 6, 2026 release.

Overview

  • Walsh, 72, was convicted at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court of indecently assaulting a child at a church in the 1980s.
  • The court heard the abuse occurred on at least three occasions, the victim was particularly vulnerable, and Walsh warned the boy his mother would not believe him.
  • He received a 12-month sentence that runs alongside his existing 22-year term, leaving his release date unchanged.
  • Walsh has served 14 years of the 22-year sentence imposed in 2012 and is currently held at HMP Wakefield as an enhanced prisoner.
  • He offended while serving in trusted roles, including priest at St Giles’s Church in Cheadle and chaplain and governor at Painsley Catholic College, with earlier crimes spanning Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Coventry.