“In 1999 and 2002, a Slovak Catholic priest of unsavoury habits was convicted of the sexual abuse of a child and public indecency,” The Spectator reported. “He died in 2006. In 2008 three tabloids followed up a rumour that at the time of the convictions his Church had quietly pulled strings to keep him out of prison. . . . His mother was still alive, and she sued the papers for the distress they had caused her.”

The priest was, of course, beyond any earthly help. But his mother was still alive, and she sued the papers for the distress they had caused her.