NB. The information has yet to be definitively confirmed by other sources. However, an e-mail message from thomasdoherty@bigstring.com says,
"Just writing to let you know that Thomas Doherty is dead - might be good idea to take down this blogspot now"
A subsequent Google search using "Tom Doherty""RIP""uk" takes the searcher to http://www.stgregorys.org.uk/Bulletin.pdf where "Tom Doherty RIP" is to be found under 'Our prayers are asked for' in the newsletter of the Catholic Community in Cheltenham for 19 September 2010.
Meanwhile,
1. Whether or not Doherty is dead, this blog will continue to provide information about and comment on the actions and inaction of the Diocese of Salford in cases where their priests have been convicted of criminal offences involving the abuse of children. Doherty's death would not alter the fact that he remained a priest for over 12 years after his conviction for five offences of indecency against a boy under 16, while William Green also appears not to have been laicised (dismissed from the clerical state). Green, the former parish priest of Holy Family, Wigan, was, like Doherty before him, also sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. In Green's case this was following conviction, in 2008, for 27 offences against children aged between eight and 16 years.
2. On 15 September 2010, Channel 4 News revealed that, in England and Wales, only eight of the 22 convicted priests who have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment of 12 months or more for offences against children, have, yet, been laicised (dismissed from the clerical state), while 14 have not (see http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/catholic+church+abuse+paedophile+priests+remain+in+catholic+church/3767477 ).
