Pell was the subject of a long-running and well-resourced police operation, which bore all the hallmarks of a sting, and which culminated in the cardinal ultimately facing trial on charges of child sexual abuse. How could such preposterous charges be brought? How could the Director of Public Prosecutions decide to proceed with an indictment on such implausible charges? Later, after the High Court acquittal, he spoke dismissively of 'Danistan', which is perhaps the best and only explanation

Detective Inspector Paul Sheridan was one of the most senior officers making the case against two men for the murders of Officers Silk and Miller in 1998 -- a crime for which one of those convicted was this week acquitted, in part because of police misconduct. Does the detective's name sound familiar? If so, chances are you followed the persecution of George Pell, for Sheridan was a figure in that travesty too

I concluded my last book, Acting on Conscience, with a […]