FIVE FORMER PUPILS who claimed a priest groomed and abused them at a Co Down school are to receive over £1.2m in combined damages.

The damages are part of High Court settlements over alleged historic sexual and physical assaults on the five former students by the deceased pedophile priest Malachy Finegan.

The claims were brought against the Diocese of Dromore and the Board of Governors at St Colman’s College, where Finegan was employed during the 1970s and 1980s.

As part of the settlements, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Primate of Ireland will issue written apologies on behalf of the Diocese of Dromore to the survivors involved.

Finegan was employed at St Colman's College during the 1970s and 1980s. Phoenix Law Phoenix Law

The former student’s legal team described the alleged actions as a “harrowing catalogue of abuse” spanning from approximately 1972 to 1984 when the individual plaintiffs attended the school as young boys.

The lawyers described Finegan’s behaviour as “depraved and sadistic”.

Finegan was the former President of the school. He died in 2002.

Claire McKeegan, Partner at the solicitor firm representing the five people, Phoenix Law, commended their bravery and resilience.

“Our clients have endured a lifetime of pain and suffering at the hands of Malachy Finegan and other staff members at St Colmans who exploited their positions of power and trust to inflict abuse of the utmost depravity,” she said.

She commented that the legal process was “protracted” and added to their trauma.