The defendant faced numerous allegations of sexual assault. The 42 civilian witnesses, who gave evidence against him, accused him of a campaign of abuse in the 1970s and 80s. At the time he was the parish priest. Paul had to overcome the fact that Mr Bennett had pleaded guilty to (and been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for) almost identical offences. Despite the “bad character” evidence and the sheer weight of prosecution evidence, Paul secured Mr Bennett`s acquittal on each of the 25 counts on the indictment. The defence speech was commended by the Recorder of Guildford.
