It's been revealed a priest who assaulted a nine-year-old in the Isle of Man and went on to indecently assault children at a school where he worked has been allowed to remain a cleric.

The news has come to light as the Catholic Church finds itself embroiled in fresh controversy over alleged child abuse cover-ups.

Father Neil Gallanagh joined St John's School for the Deaf in Boston Spa after he had been convicted of assault on the Island.

But, according to reports in the United Kingdom press, 20 years later he admitted indecently assaulting two teenage pupils at the school.

Jason Roberts reports (text, below, from attached audio file):

After his conviction in 2005, Father Gallanagh was given a six-month suspended sentence, and a further eleven charges involving boys as young as eleven were left on file.

The Sunday Telegraph says the Right Reverend Arthur Roche, the Bishop of Leeds, wrote to the Vatican asking for guidance in the case, and Gallanagh was stopped from exercising his ministry.

But he now lives in a flat 'under the observance of the Church' and has been financially supported by the Church with a retirement grant.

Margaret Kennedy, founder of the support group Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors says the Church has failed to punish him and is calling for him to be defrocked.