CONDUCTOR ABUSED CHOIRBOY, 9
Dad-of-three told child not to tell anyone
A CONDUCTOR who abused a choirboy in a cathedral organ room had previously been jailed for lewd behaviour with two other boys.
Joseph Cullen, choir master at St Aloysious and St Andrews cathedral, abused a nine-year-old boy at the cathedral in the early 1980s. The victim said he had viewed Cullen as a ‘surrogate father.’
A WORLD-renowned conductor abused a boy who saw him as a “surrogate father”
Joseph Cullen, 58, was the choir master and organist at St Andrews Cathedral in Glasgow and choir master at St Aloysius Church i n Garnethill between 1976 and 1985.
The dad-of-three, who has worked at Westminster Cathedral and with the London Symphony Chorus, abused a nine-year-old boy who joined a choir at St Andrews Cathedral.
He called the child his “special friend” and told him not to tell anyone because it was their secret.
Cullen, from Leeds, pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to a charge of using lewd and libidinous conduct towards the schoolboy between January 1981 and December 1984.
In July 2015 he was jailed for 12 months at the High Court in Glasgow for two other charges using lewd and libidinous conduct at both cathedrals against two other boys.
The court heard the child joined the choir at nine-yearsold and was a keen singer.
He experienced family problems which was a “memorable time in his life”.
Procurator fiscal depute Niall Mcdonald said: “Cullen became more involved in the complainer’s life, taking him out on trips, driving him home from choir practice and spending time with him.
“He describes Cullen at this time as a ‘ surrogate father’.”
The court heard Cullen first attacked the boy in the organ room at the cathedral when he went for choir practice.
The court heard of “several other occasions” when Cullen abused the boy in the organ room. Sentence was adjourned.