The Persecution of George Pell

"This book is the story of how the highest levels of the police, judiciary and politics in Australia, plus victim lobby groups, compensation lawyers, and journalists for major news media, found common cause to persecute, convict and jail an innocent man. They had been persuaded by fanciful accusations that, twenty years earlier, George Cardinal Pell of the Catholic Church had sexually abused two 13-year old choirboys in the priests' sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, on a Sunday morning after Mass ... Pell spent 400 days in prison before a unanimous judgment of the High Court acquitted him, and set him free. The persecution of George Pell is a story not only of a serious injustice heaped on one individual but also of the damage that can be done to a civilised society by ideologues within our major institutions when they are convinced of their own virtue and determined to get their own way." -- From back cover.

Full contents:

• Prologue: Trials, conviction, sentence and release
• The Culture Warrior and His Enemies
• 1. George Pell versus the sexual liberation movement
• 2. The making of a modern witch hunt, Part 1: a line-up of bogus accusations
• 3. The making of a modern witch hunt, Part 2: ambitious lawyers and egocentric journalists
• 4. The activism of the Royal Commission, Part 1: manipulating the news media
• 5. The activism of the Royal Commission, Part 2: interrogation in Rome and illogical findings
• 6. The police pursuit of Pell, Part 1: a lopsided contest between Church and State
• 7. The police pursuit of Pell, Part 2: trawls, leaks and the biggest lie
• The Accusation that Jailed the Cardinal
• 8. The mysteries of the priests' sacristy
• 9. The credibility of the choirboy, Part 1: honesty
• 10. The credibility of the choirboy, Part 2: identity
• 11. How the defence lost the trial
• 12. How the prosecution won the trial
• 13. Why the second jury found Pell guilty
• 14. The high court v the baying mob.

Notes:

• Includes index.
• Includes bibliographical references and index.