THE Roman Catholic Church made the paedophile priest Michael Hill head of a children’s charity and then dismissed him after several months in the post, The Times can disclose.

The episode does not appear in official accounts of Hill’s career. He was made secretary of the Catholic Children’s Society in the Southwark Diocese, in effect head of the charity, in the early 1970s.

The 68-year-old priest is serving his second jail sentence, having been convicted of molesting a total of nine boys aged 10 to 14 between 1969 and 1987. Ten charges, including abuse of a girl in 1959, remain on file.

The leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy- O’Connor, has struggled to explain why he gave Hill a job as a chaplain at Gatwick airport despite warnings from parents that the priest was a danger to children. Police are investigating the cardinal in connection with issues arising from Hill’s case.

Hill used his position of trust at Gatwick to prey on a fresh victim, a boy with learning difficulties, after meeting him in the airport chapel. He abused the child on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Victims’ leaders found out about Hill’s promotion to head the charity and his subsequent dismissal only after an investigation by The Times.

By the time Hill was put in charge of the society, he was already a child molester, although it is not known when the Church was first alerted to his behaviour.

Margaret Kennedy, of Ministers and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors, said that it looked like there had been a cover-up. “Father Hill has obviously been a problem for a very long time,” she said.

A curriculum vitae for Hill formally provided by the Church does not mention his brief period running a children’s charity. A similar incomplete version of his career was read to a judge at the Old Bailey before Hill was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in November.

The Church has formally stated that Hill was made assistant secretary of the Catholic Children’s Society in Southwark in 1966 and was subsequently made assistant parish priest in 1972.

But a study of diocesan records shows a significant event has been omitted by the Church: Hill was promoted to secretary (effectively director) of the charity in the early 1970s. That gave him control over a full range of nurseries, approved schools, children’s homes, unmarried mothers’ homes and adoption and fostering services for much of the South East of England.

The society served the dioceses of Southwark and Arundel & Brighton. The children’s homes were run by nuns, but lay social workers were also employed. Hill’s original job as an assistant secretary was based at the charity’s administrative head office in London.

Hill was seen as a rising star in the Church. A former colleague said: “He was a very learned, knowledgeable man. He could do your Times crossword in record time. He was professional and highly intelligent, very good brain, very fast. He was being groomed to become head of the society.”

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