Politician breaks silence over abuse from paedophile priest Malachy Finnegan

Conor Murphy has recounted how the late Malachy Finnegan dragged him into an office and savagely beat him with a stick before asking a series of explicit questions, including whether he loved him.

In an exclusive interview with the Press Association, Mr Murphy outlined his experiences in the late 1970s at the hands of Finnegan at St Colman’s College in Newry, Co Down.

Mr Murphy, who attended St Colman’s from 1975 to 1980, said he was angry that no one in authority stopped Finnegan’s reign of abuse, despite his sexual interest in young boys being common knowledge within the school.

He has demanded a full investigation.

The high-profile politician is the latest former pupil of St Colman’s to reveal their treatment at the hands of the abusive and sadistic cleric, whom he described as a “violent, volatile, bullying drunkard”.

“I think it was just before the end of our third year, I was a 14-year-old, and there was a bit of ruckus going on in the class we were in and Finnegan burst into the room,” the Newry and Armagh Assembly member told PA.

“He singled me out, he dragged me out by the hair, by the crown of your head, dragged me along the corridor, up two flights of stairs into his room and then he beat me with a stick on the hands and about the body.

“He was always prone to more violence than was perhaps to do with discipline.

“And then he suddenly flipped, as I was…