Journalist David Brearley taken by prostate cancer, but not before he finished a book on paedophile priest Vincent Ryan and the scourge of abuse

Ian Kirkwood
Updated December 29 2021 - 8:10am, first published 6:00am
SHAPED BY CHILDHOOD: David Brearley, who has died of cancer, aged 57, after writing a book about Catholic child abuse. He went to primary school in Newcastle. Picture: Courtesy Simone Henderson-Smart
SHAPED BY CHILDHOOD: David Brearley, who has died of cancer, aged 57, after writing a book about Catholic child abuse. He went to primary school in Newcastle. Picture: Courtesy Simone Henderson-Smart

A SYDNEY journalist who lived in Newcastle as a child - and who returned to the city as an adult to look deeply into the clerical abuse that shocked the nation at the Royal Commission - has lost his life to prostate cancer on Christmas Eve at the age of 57.

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Ian Kirkwood

Ian Kirkwood

Journalist

Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.

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