NOTORIOUS paedophile priest Brendan Smyth "candidly" admitted to raping young children like a serial killer confessing to a string of murders.
That is one of the chilling memories of the whistleblower whose confrontation with the priest led to his conviction.
Jude Whyte (55), a social work lecturer, said a former adult student told him about the sexual abuse of his children at the hands of the disgraced priest in 1994.
Mr Whyte, who now teaches at the Department of Health and Social Care at Belfast Metropolitan College, confronted Smyth a couple of days later. Mr Whyte repeated the allegations to the priest.
Not only did Smyth not deny the allegations, he seemed relieved to get them out in the open, he told the Irish Independent last night.
"He was like a serial killer finally admitting his crimes. He did seem relieved that the game was up," he said.
"But the shocking part of it was the notion of denial that this man felt. That very, very young children could somehow collude in this episode," he said.
He reported the abuse to the then-RUC and social services, which got the ball rolling that eventually led to Smyth's convictions.