London, England - The Catholic Church in Britain has been warned it is likely to face further claims for compensation for the prolonged sexual abuse of children by a priest.
The warning came after the English High Court awarded a priest's victim a record ££635,000 ($A1.49 million) damages.
The figure, awarded to a man, 35, who was abused over 10 years by Christopher Clonan, is the largest settlement the church has conceded in Britain and is the first claim decided at a court hearing.
The man, known as A, was abused between the ages of seven and 18, from 1977 to 1988, while Clonan was an assistant parish priest at the Christ the King Church in Coventry.
The court was told the victim was now schizophrenic, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and had lived for the past five years in a mental health home.
Justice Clarke, hearing the case in Manchester, said: "A told no one of the abuse until 1992. Thereafter his life fell apart. He has never been the same again and has never regained the same enthusiasm for life that he once had.
"The revelation of the abuse had severe consequences for his family . . . (Clonan) was trusted and admired. The abuse was the grossest breach of the trust that A and his family placed in him."
The court heard that Clonan had begun by fondling the boy and later the abuse proceeded to mutual masturbation. By the time the boy was 12 he was being anally raped and forced to perform oral sex. Clonan told the boy he would not be believed if he made accusations.
When the allegations came to light in 1992, Clonan fled to Australia, where he is believed to have died in 1998. A West Midlands police investigation was stalled when documents were lost.
The award is a serious setback to the church's efforts to recover from abuse scandals that culminated in calls for Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor to resign.
A spokesman for law firm Clifton Ingram said the firm was representing eight further claimants, and added: "This could quite feasibly cost the church millions and millions of pounds."