The man at the centre of a sex abuse scandal involving Cardinal George Pell has revealed he was threatened with legal action by the Sydney Archbishop's lawyers.
Anthony Jones, who was sexually assaulted in 1982 by priest, Father Terrence Goodall, says he was threatened with legal action if he spoke about the matter on ABC Television.
The ABC's Lateline program reported on Monday that Dr Pell, the head of the Catholic Church in Australia, gave misleading information to Mr Jones in 2003, after he'd complained about the abuse.
Dr Pell asserted on Monday that the sexual encounter between Mr Jones and Goodall was consensual.
But on Wednesday night, Lateline played police phone taps made in 2003 in which Goodall admitted to Mr Jones the sexual encounter wasn't consensual.
He's released a statement today saying that on Monday he was threatened by Dr Pell's lawyers that if the matter was aired on Lateline, they might prosecute him for contempt of court.
He says on Wednesday evening Goodall's lawyers also threatened to sue him and to prosecute him for being in contempt of court if the program revealing the police telephone intercept was televised on Lateline.
Yesterday, Dr Pell referred the sexual assault allegations and his handling of them, to an independent panel, including retired NSW Supreme Court Judge Bill Priestly.
But Mr Jones says he has little faith in the panel being independent.
