Abuse survivor says bishop kept child porn decades ago

A  man who says he told authorities decades ago about seeing child pornography in the Mount Pearl, N.L., home of a Catholic bishop now facing porn charges has broken his silence.

"When I saw the revelations on television [about Bishop Raymond Lahey], it just brought back the memory of telling the commission of inquiry and the police that this was information they already had," Shane Earle told CBC News Sunday.

Earle said that in the 1980s, he told Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers and the Hughes Inquiry into sexual abuse of boys at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, about what he says he saw in Lahey's home back then.

"There were photos of boys in different positions. Some sexually aroused, some not," he said. "Some boys in tight underwear. It appeared to be wet from water or something else."

Possession of child pornography was not illegal in the 1980s, it only became a crime in Canada in 1993.

Last week, Earle's brother Billy told CBC News about Shane's allegations.

Both Billy and Shane Earle were sexually abused as boys at Mount Cashel, and both were financially compensated years later.

Shane said the abuse continues to take a toll on his mental and physical health. Last year, he had a heart attack. 

Earle said the RNC contacted him just minutes before he spoke with CBC News Sunday.

He said police told him they are reviewing their investigation files from the 1980s.