A Roman Catholic priest, who fondled a 17 year-old boy flutist between the legs three decades ago, avoided prison when he received a Community Order on Friday.
Father Reginald Dunkling, 63, allowed the teenager - who played flute in a church band - to sleepover at Our Lady of Muswell in north London after they attended a Wembley Arena opera.
The trial heard the priest - a former Youth Chaplain - had a passion for live theatre and musicals and was “idolised” by the talented teenage musician.
Wood Green Crown Court was told that during the night he entered the boy’s bedroom within the priest’s house and lay on the floor, pushing his hand under the covers and rubbing the youngster over his boxer shorts for nearly a minute.
Dunkling - known as Father Reg - of Chequers End, Gadsden Row, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire fought the charge, but was found guilty of indecently assaulting the boy on a day between April 1992 and April 1993.
He must complete the twelve-month Community Order, plus twenty-five days of a rehabilitation activity requirement.
He must also obey a three-month night-time curfew between 8.00pm and 5.00am and sign the sex offenders register for the next five years.
During the week-long trial the victim, who was screened from the priest, told the jury: “I remember Father Reg coming into the room, lying down on the floor next to the bed and putting his hand under the covers.
“He said: ‘Have you had a man do this before?’ I got out at first light as soon as I could.”
Father Dunkling’s lawyer Tanya Panagiotopoulou asked: “Is it possible what was done was by someone else? I suggest this defendant never came into the room you were sleeping in.”
“I’m afraid I know what Father Reg looks like and sounds like,” replied the man.
Two years earlier the priest declared his love for the then-15 year-old during a church trip to Lourdes, when he was Youth Chaplain, the court heard.
“I always knew it was significant because it happened once in my life. A grown man saying he had fallen in love with me,” explained the victim.
“I was 15 years-old and felt confused and trapped. He said: ‘You must know what I’m going to say to you. I’m in love with you.’
“He had made it clear he wanted me to visit his room and we lay down on the bed and he held my hand. I kind of froze.
“I remember feeling trapped, almost claustrophobic and he was a priest. It was a big deal.”
Father Dunkling’s lawyer suggested: “To say ‘you are loved’ and ‘I love you’ was a stock phrase to the youth as was holding hands.
“Do you accept being loved is part of the sermon? May you have misunderstood Father Dunkling?”
The man rejected the priest’s account, declaring: “That is not the case. I wouldn’t be standing here otherwise.”
Shortly afterwards he was taken on holiday to Tenerife by Father Dunkling and another man. “I remember feeling deeply uncomfortable because of this baggage.
“I have a memory of him being very drunk and exclaiming: ‘You don’t love me.’ I couldn’t wait to get home.”
His parents had no worries about the Tenerife trip. “They would see going away on a trip with a priest as being the safest possible.”
He also recalled Father Dowling taking him for an Italian meal and ordering him wine, but was not sure if that was the same night as the charge.
Ten years later he met the priest after performing with his band at the Hammersmith Apollo. “I remember him being quite drunk that night and he said he always knew I would do well.
“I over-compensated and was Uber-friendly and I was angry on the way home and threw a bottle across the street, saying: ‘This is insane.’
“I had a very long conversation in 2012 with the police about Father Reg, but I did not want to do anything about it. I wanted to move on.
“I didn’t want my family to think they had somehow let me down and not protected me.”
A witness from the Lourdes trip told the jury he caught the priest trying to gain entry to the complainant’s room. “I heard knocking on the door and it was Father Reg trying to get in. He was drunk.
“He looked at me and swore at me. He told me to go away in no uncertain terms and I told him to go away.
“Ten to fifteen minutes later he was back, knocking on the door and I told him to go away and I stayed in the corridor to make sure he did not come back.”
A female friend of the complainant told the trial he told her about Father Dunkling’s abuse thirty years ago. “He said Father Reg had made unwanted advances and expressed feelings for him.
“He had touched him physically and in a sexual manner. I remember something about a bedroom, but it is hazy.”
Metropolitan police officers from Operation Winter Key arrested Father Dunkling on June 16, 2020 and asked him if he molested the complainant.
“No, never, absolutely not,” insisted the priest, saying he was never alone with the youngster in a Lourdes or Mussel Hill bedroom.
Previously the jury were shown a video-recorded interview the man gave to police in which he explained: “I remember him going through the covers and just stroking me over the top of my shorts.
“He stroked and stroked and stroked and I just froze.
“He was a charismatic, interesting, likeable guy that introduced me to theatres and musicals. Stuff I ended up doing as a living. I kind of idolised him.”
Regarding the Lourdes trip the complainant added: “He asked me to stay in his room, which didn’t seem odd to me. I was very naive.
“He held my hand and told me: ‘I’m in love with you,’ and I kind of froze. He did not touch me at that point, but it was all about how he was in love with me.”
The man did not report Dunkling after the Muswell Hill sleepover two years later. “I remember him being very drunk and I brushed it off a bit, thinking it was a big mistake, but as I got older I became more angry.”
Between those incidents he went on a Tenerife holiday with the defendant and another man. “Father Reg spent time with my family and my mother’s attitude was: ‘He’s a priest, of course he is okay.’
“It is very odd for a 15 year-old boy to go on holiday with two grown men and during it he would shout: ‘You don’t love me.’ It was a very odd couple of weeks.”
Prosecutor David Harounoff told the jury: “The defendant is a priest and in 2013 the complainant was contacted by the police, who were investigating offences, but he declined to co-operate.
“In 2020 the Diocese of Westminster undertook a safeguarding review and the complainant decided he wanted to co-operate and the police interviewed him.
“As a teenager he was involved with the Church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Kentish Town and developed a relationship with Father Reginald Dunkling.
“He was a gifted flute player in the church band and describes this defendant as charismatic and interesting and he took him to the theatre and to a trip to Lourdes with others.”
Aged just fifteen, the boy was invited into Father Dunkling’s room, where the priest told him: “I’m in love with you,” the jury were told.
There was no physical contact until the night of the Wembley Arena opera, the trial heard.
“When he was 17 years-old he stayed with this priest in Muswell Hill after the show and meal,” explained Mr Harounoff.
“He says he was asleep when this defendant entered the bedroom and lay on the floor beside him, placed his hand under the bed covers and stroked him over his boxer shorts.
“The complainant said he did not like it and to use his words ‘bolted’ the next morning at 5am.
“Ten years later he saw Father Dunkling at a music function in Hammersmith and says this defendant looked uncomfortable.”
Another witness, who attended the Lourdes trip, will tell the jury he saw a drunken Father Dunkling knocking on the boy’s bedroom door.
He was warned off, but returned five minutes later and knocked on the door again and had to be told to go away for a second time.
“The witness stayed in the hallway until he left the vicinity of the boy’s room,” added the prosecutor.
Father Dunkling was arrested on June 16, 2020. “He was adamant absolutely nothing had happened.”
The priest told the jury during the trial he often obtained free tickets to West End shows and would take parishioners along - including the complainant.
“I had a lot of contacts in the West End and Theatreland and I was fortunate to be offered a lot of tickets. When you’re offered a freebie you take it because you can’t afford it.”
He denied sneaking into the boy’s room and molesting him, adding: “I have been asking myself that question since the police knocked on my door.
“That morning I was woken at 6.30am by four police officers. I was in total and utter shock.
“I was in my bedroom and I was terrified. It was dreadful, I was so embarrassed, I was humiliated.”
The priest also complained: “I was put in a holding cell for seven hours and talking about it now brings back bad feelings.
“I was offered a glass of warm water on one of the hottest days of the year and the officers went out for lunch.”
Dunking claimed there was nothing sinister about proclaiming his love for the teenage boy. “I was not in love with him, I can categorically say that.
“That was my mantra, that was my work to preach the Gospel. Many of them felt unloved by their families and I was just doing my job.”
