"Predatory" former vicar charged with child sex offences for third time

19 November 2024, 17:55

A "predatory" former vicar has be sentenced over child sex offences for the third time.

Ifor Whittaker, 80, faces spending the rest of his life behind bars after he was sentenced for child sex offences after raping a six-year-old boy in his church.

The 80-year-old admitted rape and gross indecency with the child in the vestry of St John The Baptist Church in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, where he served as a priest under the name Colin Pritchard.

Hove Crown Court heard that Whittaker had baptised the boy who he went on to abuse in the incident in the 1990s.

Sentencing him to a discretionary life sentence on Tuesday, Judge Gary Lucie said: "You are a predatory paedophile and have been for many years.

"I doubt that you will ever cease to be a serious danger to young boys but that risk cannot be reliably estimated at this time.

"In my judgment, the combination of offences is so serious that only custody can be justified, and for the reasons that I have already given the appropriate sentence in this case, on count 1, is a sentence of life imprisonment."

The former Church of England priest is already serving a 16-year sentence for abusing a boy between 1987 and 1991 after a trial in 2018, and had previously been jailed for five years in 2008 for the abuse of two children in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, between 1979 and 1983.

He has now been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of eight years before being eligible to be considered for parole.

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The court heard that Whittaker's fourth victim described to police being terrified during the attack and that he tried to bury the memories of what happened, but "it had come back to him in pieces over the years".

Judge Lucie told Whittaker: "You have been responsible for committing serious sexual offences against four young boys over a long period whilst abusing your position as a trusted member of the community as a vicar.

"This offending is of the most serious kind."

Nicky Beard urged other victims of sexual offending to report it to the police, adding: "We will listen to you."

Speaking outside court, she said: "The victim has lived with the impact of this abuse for all his life, most of his life, and he's shown so much courage to come forward and report him, to help us to get justice for him.

"I hope this outcome can finally give him closure, and Whittaker spends most of it, if not the rest of his life, behind bars."

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Chichester apologised "unreservedly" for the "appalling abuse" the victim suffered, after the church's dealings with Whittaker were covered in reports including the Case Study for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

"That history makes clear that there were a number of serious safeguarding errors made prior to his 2008 conviction, for which this diocese has offered unreserved apologies and from which we continue to draw lessons for our current safeguarding practice," the spokeswoman said.

"This case should remind us of the vital importance of prioritising the safety of children above any other consideration, listening to survivors of abuse, and ensuring that every concern is reported to the statutory authorities without delay."