Child abuse associated with the Catholic Church

I am writing to request, under the Freedom of Information Act, information regarding cases of child sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by priests associated with the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Please could you inform me of:

1. The number of cases of alleged child sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by priests associated with the Catholic Church in England and Wales that have been reported to you;
2. The number of these reported cases where the Catholic priest accused of abuse:
   a. admitted their guilt
   b. was found guilty through trial
   c. was sentenced to 12 months or more in jail
   d. did not face trial (because of insufficient evidence or other reason);
3. The number of cases of alleged child sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by priests associated with the Catholic Church in England and Wales currently the subject of investigation.

In accordance with section 1(1) (a) of the Act our response is provided below;

Section 17 (5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Cheshire Constabulary, when refusing to provide such information (because we rely on a claim that section 12 applies) to provide you with a notice which states that fact,

We are unable to confirm whether or not we hold any of the information you have requested. The investigations into child abuse claims were conducted some time ago and the allegations in the main concerned events from many years prior to that. There is a large volume of paper records stored in deep storage concerning these investigations and it is estimated that to retrieve and search those records would take a minimum of four days work. This clearly would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit is defined in the Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004, which is covered by statutory Instrument Number 3244 of 2004. Furthermore, Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows a public authority to refuse to respond to a request for information where the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit as defined by the above mentioned regulations.

We cannot locate any electronically held information that would indicate the involvement by catholic priests in any recent case of child abuse. Anecdotally officers cannot recall any case where catholic priests have been charged with offences or appeared in court.