A former choirboy has initiated legal proceedings against the Church of Ireland, alleging he was physically and sexually abused by a rector in east Belfast in the early 1970s.

Francis Bostrom said the abuse began in 1971 when he was 14 and the Reverend Billy Neely offered to tutor him for O-levels at Mount Merrion Church of Ireland parish. The tutoring sessions, he alleged, were accompanied by beatings when his answers were incorrect.

Bostrom described punishments that involved the use of a hand, willow sticks, a strap, and a belt, sometimes delivering up to 500 strokes. He said he was made to strip from the waist down and believed the abuse was sexual in nature. The incidents took place in the rectory.

Bostrom stated that he and other choirboys were sworn to secrecy and he kept silent for decades before speaking publicly.

In around 1976, the retired Reverend Canon Dr Jonathan Barry, then a young minister at a neighbouring parish, received complaints from two women about Neely. Barry said the women made serious allegations of child abuse, describing Neely pulling down boys’ trousers and thrashing them while appearing sexually aroused.

Barry advised the women to report the matter to the church and police. Shortly afterwards, Neely was moved to a rural parish in County Tipperary, in the Republic of Ireland. The Church of Ireland has not publicly addressed the circumstances of that transfer. Neely later returned to Northern Ireland in the 1980s, serving in a parish in Armagh, and regained the rank of canon before his death in 2009. He was buried in the grounds of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh.

The Church of Ireland issued a statement expressing “heartfelt regret” and said abuse of any kind would not be tolerated. It added that victims and survivors remained its utmost priority and it would co-operate fully with any investigation into criminal acts. The statement did not comment on the move to Tipperary.

Bostrom said he met the current Bishop of Down and Dromore, David McClay, in recent years and the bishop expressed regret. Bostrom stated that as a Christian he has forgiven Neely but believes the church should be held accountable. His legal action follows a previous £100,000 settlement the church reached with another alleged victim of Neely.