The family of one of the victims of a former priest who was once jailed for “evil” child sex offences has said his death in a car crash over the weekend has brought some “closure”.
Gerard McQuillan, who was aged in his 60s, died following the two-vehicle collision near Poyntzpass in Co Armagh.
Police received a report of the crash on the Newry Road shortly after 6.30pm on Friday.
Ambulance and fire crews also attended the scene where McQuillan, who was driving a Peugeot 207, had been killed.
McQuillan, who was originally from the Portadown area, was jailed for 12 years in 2004 after admitted to 40 sex charges involving five young victims between December 1986 and January 1993.
He was also put on the sex offenders’ register for life.
A former school chaplain, he had also previously served as a priest in Armagh city for several years before being jailed for child sex convictions.
In 2002, the priest admitted what he had done to the mother of one victim, a court was told, after he had been approached
McQuillan faced three charges of indecent assault involving one victim when the case came to court in March 2003, but the publicity over the prosecution led to a second victim, then two more, also coming forward.
McQuillan confessed to sexually abusing a fifth victim on the advice of his lawyers,
McQuillan revealed in the last of his police confessions, that while he never used violence, that did not make what he did right.
He went on to describe himself as “cunning and sneaky” and said he had been “behaving crazy”, before telling police: “It was still very evil the way I operated and what I did, and was quite sick.”Describing it as “a sad case of a man who has probably done much good in the community”, a judge at the time: “It is a difficult case and these are serious offences which rightly alarm and disturb the public.”
The judge took into consideration a number of aggravating factors, including his “position of power and authority, the youth of his victims and their deliberate seduction and corruption, the length of the period of abuse, the betrayal of the trust of the parents and the effect on his victims’ health”.
His defence QC apologised unreservedly on behalf of McQuillan at the time, and after he was sentenced, Sean Brady, then Archbishop of Armagh, spoke of his “deep sorrow” at McQuillan’s crimes.
“I acknowledge that serious wrong was done to the victims of his offences, and I deeply regret the terrible pain which they and their families have suffered,” he said in 2004.
“I am truly sorry that their trust and friendship have been so shamefully betrayed.
“I also regret, very much, the distress caused to the parishioners and to Fr McQuillan’s fellow priests. They too feel shocked and saddened.”
It is understood that McQuillan, who was later kicked out of the Church, had spent time in the Republic following his release from prison.
The family of one of his victims said his death had brought some “closure” although they were shocked and disturbed to learn he had been back in the Co Armagh area when he died.