Michael Glennon

Michael Charles Glennon (13 May 1944 – 1 January 2014) was an Australian convicted child molester and former Roman Catholic priest, the subject of one of the most notorious clergy sex abuse cases in Australia. Glennon ran a youth camp in Lancefield, Victoria, where most of the abuse took place.

Glennon was convicted of sexually abusing 15 children in court cases spanning 25 years and was serving a 33½ year prison term with a non-parole period of 26½ years. Glennon died in prison on 1 January 2014, aged 69.

Life Glennon was born in Preston, a working-class suburb of Melbourne, one of 10 siblings.

In 1971, he was ordained to the priesthood and was an assistant priest at St Monica's in Moonee Ponds, where he and his Labrador Retriever were popular with "hundreds" of children. he was formally laicised by the church. The church claims that defamation law prevented them from acting to expose him. Glennon continued to preach, ministering to a congregation from his home in Thornbury. The congregation included poor and Aboriginal families. The trial was delayed by several years due to the publication of Glennon's prior conviction by Derryn Hinch. He was prosecuted by Crown Prosecutor Meryl Sexton, later appointed a Judge of the County Court of Victoria. In 1991, Glennon was found guilty of five charges including indecent assault, attempted buggery of a boy under 14 years, and buggery with violence. and Glennon was sent to prison for seven years with a five-year minimum.

Death Glennon was found dead in his cell at Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat, Victoria, on 1 January 2014. Aged 69, he is believed to have died of natural causes. He would have been eligible for parole in 2018.