Accused priest 'said he'd beat charges' A Hunter Valley Catholic priest suspected of sexually abusing children over four decades boasted he would beat any charges against him, a special commission of inquiry has heard. When police arrived on his doorstep in September 2005 with an arrest warrant, Father Denis McAlinden allegedly said, "I was previously charged with child abuse matters and I beat those charges, so if I am around long enough, I will beat these charges too." But the 72-year-old, who had terminal cancer, was not charged and died soon afterwards. The commission, which began in Newcastle Supreme Court on Monday, is investigating the way police and the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese handled child sex allegations, particularly those involving Fr McAlinden and Father James Fletcher, who is also dead. The NSW commission was established after Hunter Valley Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox alleged church officials covered up criminal offences and, along with some police, hindered investigations. During the fifth day of proceedings before Special Commissioner Margaret Cunneen on Friday a statutory declaration by Andrew Grono was tendered. In it Mr Grono, who has since left the police, said that in 2005 he was a detective in the Western Australian town of Busselton. He responded to a call by Sergeant Mark Watters in the Hunter Valley to track down Fr McAlinden, who was believed to be in the area. After investigations, he went to a bed and breakfast hostel and spoke to Fr McAlinden, who was frail, struggling to walk and had an oxygen bottle beside his chair. "Fr McAlinden did not appear surprised (by the arrest warrant) and, if anything appeared amused," Mr Grono said in his statement . I regarded Fr McAlinden's attitude towards me as being, to a significant extent, defiant and dismissive. "I asked Fr McAlinden to clarify what he meant (and) at this point Fr McAlinden informed me he had terminal cancer and only a short time to live," Mr Grono said. Fr McAlinden appeared to have no concern about the matter, and did not express any remorse or make admissions of guilt, he said. After speaking with Fr McAlinden's doctor and having his health condition confirmed, then Det Constable Grono contacted Sgt Watters who told him not to execute the warrant. In other evidence on Friday, New South Wales sex crime squad commander John Kerlatec admitted that some serious Hunter Valley child sex abuse allegations in May 2010 did not appear to have been treated as matters of urgency. He was asked to comment on police emails and memos that contained allegations about the possible existence of a pedophile network among Catholic clergy, a pornographic videotape at a Hunter Valley Catholic presbytery and a possible conspiracy by church officials to conceal sex crimes. "These emails don't exhibit a great deal of urgency," Insp Fox's barrister, Mark Cohen, put to Supt Kerlatec. The commission will continue on Monday for another week before resuming late in June for three weeks.