BishopAccountability.org
	Child Porn Priest Deeply Sorry By Marc Meneaud ic Coventry [United Kingdom] March 27, 2007 http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0150swarksnews/tm_headline= child-porn-priest-deeply-sorry&method=full&objectid=18814454&siteid=50003-name_page.html A Warwickshire priest who admitted downloading child porn has apologised for the distress he caused. Father Anthony Jones said in a statement issued through the diocese, he accepted responsibility and was deeply sorry. As reported in the Telegraph on Saturday, Fr Jones walked free from Warwick Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to three charges of making indecent images. A further 14 charges were ordered to lie on file. The court had heard he used a computer to view "homosexual fantasy stories about incest and child sex". The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, the diocese in which Jones worked, said he would now be excluded from all public ministries after serving the church for 32 years. He will still be able to remain a priest but has lost his right to perform mass or tend to parishioners. Archbishop Nichols said: "This is the substantial penalty that his actions have brought about. "On receiving this sentence Fr Jones has asked me to say that he accepts responsibility for the consequences of his actions and is deeply sorry for the distress and pain this has caused the Catholic Church, particularly to so many of his parishioners." The court had heard Jones had searched the internet on a computer at St Peter the Apostle Church in Dormer Place, Leamington and viewed an image of an older person having sex with a boy aged 14. The 57-year-old was given a two-year conditional dis-charge, ordered to register as a sex offender and pay £982 costs. Archbishop Nichols said that Fr Jones had brought "shame and distress" by his actions. He said: "The actions which brought him to court are deeply regrettable and unacceptable in the life of a priest." He added: "Many will know and recognise the immense good work Fr Jones has done in his 32 years of priestly ministry. This should never be forgotten. Like many others I am grateful to him for all he achieved." Jones's crimes came to light when the Leamington church secretary discovered he had been using the church computer to look for gay porn and "boys' photos". In court, Gerald Quirke, mitigating said the gay priest had set out to find adult homosexual images but admitted that, when searching for gay pornography there was a danger that an image would appear of someone aged under 18.
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