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Extra.ie
a day ago
- Extra.ie
'I suspected the priest in the old black and white photos was my real father'
The son of an Irish priest has called for a criminal investigation into the whereabouts of his father's assets and demanded: 'I want to know what happened to my father's fortune.' Aidan Wilson had always suspected that the local priest who baptised him as a baby in the UK was his father. The 'man in black' in a photograph in his house growing up was Fr Paddy Crowe, originally from Tuam, Co Galway, who worked and lived in England for much of his life before his death in 2000. But it was a full 22 years later before Mr Wilson, 57, was finally told by his brother Pat, who had three months to live at the time, that the priest who bore a close resemblance to him was indeed his father. Aidan Wilson had always suspected that the local priest who baptised him as a baby in the UK was his father. Pic: Supplied Over the past three years, Mr Wilson has been searching for answers about the man who fathered him, and what has become of the wealth he amassed during his lifetime. In an exclusive interview with Mr Wilson said the Catholic Church has many questions to answer, including if its members in England know what happened to the money his father allegedly amassed over his lifetime. He suspects that an Irish-based nun could hold the all-important information on Fr Crowe's fortune, but she has refused to speak to him about the matter. Attempts by to contact the nun were rebuffed by her order. A photograph published for the first time today shows Fr Crowe baptising Aidan at St John's Church in Norwich, knowing the baby was his own child. Pic: Supplied Mr Wilson said the nun was very close to Fr Crowe and would take holidays with him, and that she accompanied him to hospital for the surgery where he died on the operating table. Mr Wilson has spoken with the Bishop of Northampton, the Bishop of East Anglia, three of Fr Crowe's colleagues in Luton, as well as the head of the Columban fathers in the UK concerning the case. The police force in Bedfordshire, England, is also liaising with Mr Wilson after he tried to submit a criminal complaint regarding his father's missing money. He is now attempting to hire a UK-based solicitor to help him get answers. A photograph published for the first time today shows Fr Crowe baptising Aidan at St John's Church in Norwich, knowing the baby was his own child. Fr Crowne eventually settled in Luton. Pic: Getty Images Through DNA websites such as My Heritage and Aidan was able to determine that his first cousins were the children of Fr Paddy's siblings. A DNA test also proves his brother Pat is actually his half-brother. He now wants Fr Crowe's body to be exhumed to finally clear up any doubts about his parentage. Mr Wilson is also demanding that a 'proper investigation' is carried out into this father's missing fortune. But Mr Wilson insists it's not about the money, but about finding out the truth. 'I don't want people to read this and think, 'oh yeah, here we go, he's only after his money.' I was lied to for over 50 years of my life. I want the lies to stop, and I just want the truth.' Aidan's story begins in the 1960s, when Fr Crowe was a curate in Norwich, a historic cathedral city in the southeast of England. 'From a very, very young age, I always felt that my mum's husband, Bob, wasn't my dad,' he recalls. 'When I was very, very young, I questioned it. For a start, I never called him dad. I called him Bob. And I would say, 'Why do I call you Bob?' He said: 'Well, everyone calls me Bob.' And I said, 'well, I don't look like you' and he'd just say that I took after my mum. 'When I was young, I had a baby book and there were all things to do with the baby; locks of hair, pictures, what-have-you. But there's two pictures in that. One was a picture of a man in black holding a baby, which was me, and another picture was the man in black, my mum and me. And I would say to my mum, 'who is that man?' She'd say that was the priest who baptised you, and I'd say, 'he looks like me, mum', and then she'd change the subject.' Aidan said it was only when his mother was dying in 1999 that the subject of Fr Crowe and the family secret became more pronounced. Aidan has since gone on to say that had he been told the truth, he would have had the opportunity to meet Fr Crowe before his death. 'I always thought that that man in the picture was my dad, the man who baptised me. Anyway, this went on. I got nothing out of Mum and Bob, but when I was 12 years old, my big brother Pat, who is 17 years older than me, he and my mum had a massive falling out to the tune that they never spoke for 20 years until her deathbed. 'Pat disappeared, basically, for 20 years, but when mum was dying, I told Pat he had better go and see mum in Ireland, because she's dying, and he did so. 'So me and Pat got together for the first time in 20 years, and we went for a drink. We're still waiting for mum to be buried, and that's the first time I said to Pat: 'Is Bob my dad?' He was a bit taken aback about this because I said, 'I don't think he is. I never thought he was,' and he would lie and say, 'yeah, yeah, he is.'' Aidan said this 'went on for over two decades', in the early 2000s, when the brothers temporarily lived together, Pat hinted he had something to tell him. 'Sometimes, when he'd had a few, he nearly told me something. He almost told me a few things. 'He said he [priest] had to get out of Norwich quickly. Something happened.' Finally, after pressing the matter, Pat finally told his brother the truth while they were out having Christmas dinner in 2022. Pat was dying of cancer,' Aidan said. 'Pat only had a few months left to live, and I said to Pat at the table: 'Right, Pat. Same question I've been asking you for decades – is Bob my dad?' And he said, 'No, he's not. Your dad is Patrick Crowe. He's the bloke in the picture.' 'I said, I knew it all these years! You lied to me.' After that, Aidan said, 'Pat told me everything.' He told his brother Fr Crowe and their mother were always close, and that he was suspicious the pair were in a romantic relationship. He also recounted how Fr Crowe burst into the hairdressers where Pat was apprenticing at the time and announced to everyone: 'It's a boy! It's a boy! We have a boy!' Fr Crowe used to watch Pat play football every Thursday, but he began to notice that, shortly after the whistle blew, the priest would leave and head towards the Wilson household. Aidan said that one Thursday, Pat got himself subbed, went home early and 'caught mum and [Fr] Paddy naked having sex in the living room'. He told 'He [Pat] got himself into an altercation with Paddy. And mum was shouting at him, in the living room, to 'leave that man alone'. Anyway, Paddy grabbed his clothes, scurried out the house, putting them on, and ran out, and disappeared. And then mum was pregnant.' Aidan said his brother was scared for the future of his family as Fr Crowe continued to come around to the house. At one stage, Pat went to St John's Church in Norwich and told a senior priest Fr Crowe was the father of his little brother. Months later, after hearing nothing back, Pat returned to the church to demand that something be done. On this occasion, Aidan said his brother spoke with 'a more senior priest. He said: 'I want something done. Everyone knows what's going on here. Something needs to happen.'' Days later, Fr Crowe arrived at their family home and revealed he was being sent away. He never returned to the Wilson home but took up several new parishes, eventually settling in Luton. After Aidan finally discovered the truth about his father, he tried to get in touch with his relatives in Ireland. He said some were delighted to hear they had 'a piece of Paddy still alive', but others were less forthcoming. It was through Aidan's conversations with his new-found cousins that he heard of Fr Crowe 'fortune'. He said multiple people told him his late father was 'minted' and that he had always been successful when it came to money. This came as a surprise to Aidan, as he had heard that the only thing that was handed over after his death was Fr Crowe's car, which went to the priest's brother, Anthony. From this point, Aidan began carrying out his own investigations with the help of Vincent Doyle of Coping International – an organisation set up to help children of priests around the world. Through the organisation, attempts are now being made to find out exactly what happened to Fr Crowe's fortune.
Irish Daily Mirror
06-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
Question marks over Linfield's €15 charge for Shelbourne fans
Linfield have announced a €15 charge to watch coverage of the second-leg of their eagerly anticipated Champions League clash against Shelbourne on a streaming service. The Belfast side said on Sunday that talks had taken place with 'several broadcasters' regarding televising the Windsor Park tie on Wednesday July 16, on this side of the border, but that 'no suitable agreement could be reached.' However, in the same statement, Linfield added that 'BBC Northern Ireland has acquired the exclusive UK television rights' for the match. Efforts have been made to contact representatives of several broadcasters regarding the content of Linfield's statement, and to ascertain whether BBC Northern Ireland, a station widely accessible here, would be geo-blocked during the broadcast. Mirror Sport will report any replies we get. Click this link or scan the QR code to receive the latest League of Ireland news and top stories from the Irish Mirror. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. It is believed that RTE, who will broadcast the first leg from Tolka Park, had no plans to provide live coverage of the second leg. Linfield confirmed the broadcast details of the second-leg, writing: 'We can confirm that BBC Northern Ireland has acquired the exclusive UK television rights for this highly anticipated fixture. BBC NI will deliver a full multi-camera production, including all VAR-compliant angles, in accordance with UEFA regulations. 'Despite discussions with several broadcasters, no suitable agreement could be reached regarding rights within the Republic of Ireland. Linfield FC instead will provide a live pay-per-view stream for Irish-based viewers in partnership with our trusted streaming provider, SolidSport TV. 'The stream will be available for £13 (€15), ensuring supporters south of the border can still access full coverage of this crucial UEFA Champions League qualifier. 'Supporters in Republic of Ireland and the rest of the world can purchase their live streaming tickets here.
Irish Independent
06-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Major US business lobby group joins fight to protect multinationals' GDPR rights after court ruling on Eaton worker data
The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed a court document last week expressing concern over a US court ordering power-system giant Eaton to turn over employee performance evaluations to the IRS, despite the documents being protected by EU data-privacy rules. The 300,000-member strong lobby group said the documents were of 'marginal relevance' to the IRS's ongoing audit of Eaton. The document also filed by the US National Association of Manufacturers said the American tax agency could have gotten 'the information it wanted another way'. The Chamber expressed its concern that the US court's decision would make it 'too easy' for the IRS and other American government agencies to force companies to provide information protected by foreign law. It was worried that this could expose taxpayers to penalties and sanctions from other countries. 'The district court's dismissive treatment of the foreign privacy interests also puts Eaton in a bind,' the Chamber wrote. 'If Eaton is forced to turn over the GDPR-protected employee evaluations, it may face enforcement actions in Europe. Eaton presumably could not defend itself by arguing that the GDPR is overly protective or that a US court viewed the privacy interests in the evaluations as minor.' The Chamber called for the court's judgment to be reversed. In May, an American judge instructed Eaton to disregard GDPR rules and hand over controversial employee-performance evaluations to the IRS, following a long-running legal dispute. The IRS hopes to use the evaluations to judge how much work Irish-based staff were doing on some of Eaton's intellectual property, potentially showing whether Eaton was being taxed correctly or not. The case stems from an IRS audit of Eaton's 2017-2019 tax returns, which focused on whether the company improperly shifted IP to Ireland, where corporate tax rates are lower.
The Irish Sun
05-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
Moment MV Matthew crew ordered to burn drugs as Irish warship in ‘hot pursuit' as cops probe Iran & Kinahan cartel links
THE Kinahan cartel is among several international crime organisations being probed over the failed attempt to smuggle €157million of cocaine to Europe on board MV Matthew. The drugs operation, which originated in Advertisement 6 The Army Ranger Wing boarding the MV Matthew as part of Ireland's largest-ever drugs haul Credit: Copyright remains with handout provider 6 The partially-burned cocaine stash inside a lifeboat on the MV Matthew Credit: Copyright remains with handout provider 6 Captain Darragh Kirwan head of Naval Service Operations and Garda Assistant Comissioner Angela Willis Credit: � 2025 PA Media, All Rights Reserved Eight men were jailed on Friday for between 13.5 and 20 years for their part in trying to smuggle the 2.2tonnes — the largest The haul was seized following a joint The These criminals are believed to have links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, which was led by General Hossein Salami, until he was killed by an Israeli airstrike during last month's Advertisement READ MORE IN IRISH NEWS Two of those jailed on Friday were Iranians that Gardai believe have links to Hezbollah, led by Hassan Nasrallah before his assassination in Today, the Gardai released a The man who ran the operation from Speaking today from the Naval Base in Haulbowline, Co Advertisement Most read in Irish News Asst Comm Willis said Gardai have also identified Irish-based She said: 'The next phase of the operation is to look at the peripheral involvement of other people here in Ireland and abroad, and that will also include looking at asset recovery of those people.' RESILIENT CARTELS She indicated the Interpol's Dave Cantor said: 'The cartels are resilient and looking for new ways to get their drugs to market. I think it's changing as the threat of synthetic drugs is on the rise globally.' Advertisement He said deadly drugs like Pink Cocaine — a cocktail of synthetic drugs which has led to many deaths in the He stressed: 'There's a very strong commitment to fight organised crime.' Revenue Commissioner Ruth Kennedy said they have a potential buyer for MV Matthew, which is berthed across from the town of Passage. To watch the full story of the MV Matthew click . Advertisement 6 Daniel Kinahan 6 Hezbollah's chief Hassan Nasrallah Credit: AFP 6 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami Credit: Reuters
Hamilton Spectator
05-07-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Leasing companies allege Flair failed to make rent payments, ignored default notices
Plane-leasing companies that seized four aircraft from Flair Airlines in 2023 are seeking damages from the budget carrier, alleging it failed to make rent payments by the deadline and ignored repeated default notices. The allegations were detailed in a statement of defence and counterclaim for US$30.9 million filed in Ontario Superior Court on June 26. In March 2023, Flair Airlines filed a $50-million lawsuit against Irish-based Airborne Capital Inc. and a trio of affiliated leasing corporations, alleging they 'secretly' found a better deal for the Boeing 737 Max aircraft with a third party and then set up Flair for default. Flair said at the time it received no notice over the 'unlawful' seizures, which took place at airports in Toronto, Edmonton and Waterloo, Ont., precluding the airline from alerting or rebooking customers. The airline then found itself down by more than a fifth of its 19-plane fleet, forcing it to cancel multiple flights. 'The lessors sent agents to seize the aircraft in the middle of the night as passengers were boarding planes for spring break vacations,' Flair's statement of claim said. But Airborne Capital has said that Flair 'regularly' missed payments over the previous five months, prompting the plane seizures, and that it had been in regular contact with Flair's representatives about its obligations. None of the allegations in Flair's lawsuit or the countersuit have been tested in court. In new court documents, the lessors deny any breach of contract or duty to act in good faith, saying the seizures were necessary to protect the value of the aircraft. They said the seizures took place at Canadian airports to avoid stranding passengers overseas and were timed overnight to prevent disruption during busier daytime hours. 'Flair's action is an attempt to recover self-inflicted losses arising from its own defaults,' the countersuit stated. 'For months, Flair failed to make rent and other payments when due under the leases. It ignored repeated default notices in which the lessors expressly reserved their rights and remedies under the leases, including to terminate the leasing of the aircraft and repossess the aircraft.' The leasing companies said they 'repeatedly advised that the continuing arrears were unacceptable.' They also denied that the seizures were related to a more profitable deal with a third-party. 'In fact, it took the defendants several months and significant cost ... to re-market and restore the aircraft to a suitable condition before they could be re-leased or sold,' the document stated. 'Two aircraft required major repairs because one or more of their engines were unserviceable due to defects uncovered post recovery from Flair.' In a statement, Flair CEO Maciej Wilk called the counterclaim a 'predictable response' to Flair's lawsuit. 'The company does not comment on active litigation, but would like to point out that the claims in question relate to events that occurred over two years ago,' Wilk said. 'Flair continues to maintain and cultivate productive and positive relationships with all of its stakeholders, including its customers, lessors and other industry partners and remains focused on executing its strategy and commitment to be Canada's most reliable and affordable airline.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2025.
