Cardiff - The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff last night denied claims that he had sexually assaulted a young girl after he was arrested and questioned by police.
The Most Rev John Ward, leader of the Catholic Church in Wales, also appeared to suggest that the police leaked details of the case to the media.
The archbishop, who was 70 on Sunday, was arrested after voluntarily attending a London police station with his solicitor. Officers questioned him over the claims that he assaulted the girl, then aged six or seven, while working as a parish priest and school governor in Peckham, south London, during 1960-1. The woman is now 45 and believed to be living in Ireland.
The archbishop was released on police bail and afterwards Cardinal Basil Hume said he had his "full support".