[News] Man charged after priest is attacked while praying alone in Catholic Cathedral

A bottle-wielding thug has been charged with attacking a priest while he prayed in a cathedral.

The incident reportedly took place at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh on Monday morning, July 26.

Father Jamie McMorrin, 35, was sitting alone on a pew in St Mary’s in Edinburgh when he was approached by a man who asked if he was a priest before trying to hit him with a glass bottle, Metro UK reports.

 

Despite being chased to the back of the building, the priest reportedly managed to escape unhurt.

Police said that a 31-year-old man was arrested in Cumbria and charged in connection with the incident.  He was also charged in connection with an assault at Princes Street Gardens East on Monday.

The man is expected to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday.

A police spokesman said: ‘A 31-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with an assault at a cathedral on York Place in Edinburgh on Monday, July 26.

‘The man has also been charged in connection with a further assault at Princes Street Gardens East on Monday, July 26.’

Leaders of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh said: “A priest sitting alone praying in a pew was subject to a violent and unprovoked assault by a man carrying a glass bottle.

“Prior to the attack the man had asked him if he was a priest. When the priest replied that he was, the man attempted to hit him on the head with the bottle, before chasing him to the back of the cathedral.

“The bottle broke on the ground and the man continued using it in his assault.

“The priest managed to fend him off with a chair before the attacker ran out.”