Leamington Spa Today [United Kingdom]
March 29, 2007
http://www.leamingtonspatoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=691&ArticleID=2190147
"Disgusting" was the word used to describe the sentence given to disgraced Leamington priest Fr Tony Jones this week after he admitted downloading child pornography.
Fr Tony, 57, who led St Peter's church in Dormer Place and attended governor meetings at St Patrick's Primary School, was given a two-month conditional discharge.
A former parishoner, who asked not to be named, vented her anger at the court's decision.
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| Fr Tony Jones |
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"The actions which brought him to court are deeply regrettable and unacceptable in the life of a priest" Quote By : Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nic |
She said: "The sentencing is all wrong, it's disgusting. He had admitted it. Is it because he is a priest that he is getting away with it?"
Fr Tony, apologised for his actions through a statement from the Archbishop of Birmingham.
The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols said: "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.
"He is also most grateful for the constant stream of prayers offered for him over the past 16 months, which have supported him and sustained his faith and trust in God.
"I echo the sorrow expressed by Fr Jones at the distress and shame caused by his actions. The actions which brought him to court are deeply regrettable and unacceptable in the life of a priest."
Fr Tony has since moved to Stafford.
FATHER Tony Jones was given a two-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £982 costs and register as a sex offender.
He had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images. The offences took place in Leamington and in Caversham, near Reading.
Prosecutor Tom Schofield said that while Jones was the parish priest in Caversham he had a computer installed in the presbytery.
After leaving he went on a pilgrimage to Santiago in northern Spain before taking up a new post at St Peter's church in October of that year.
When he arrived there was already a computer, and he also had the services of a secretary, Geraldine Clarkson, who showed him how to access the internet using her password.
The matters came to light when Mrs Clarkson used the computer and went to the Google search site.
She discovered web addresses with titles such as 'boys photos' but did not act immediately, although she knew Jones was the only other person to have her password.
But when she used it again she saw further homosexual porn sites had been accessed, with ten new searches mainly for legal sites of homosexual fantasies.
She told another priest, and the matter was passed on to the Archdiocese of Birming- ham.
When questioned, Jones admitted accessing homosexual sites but denied looking at sites of boys.
The police examined computers from both parishes and indecent images of boys were found on both.
Of the charges Jones admitted, Mr Schofield said two images, found on the Caversham computer, showed boys posing naked.
The image on the Leamington computer showed an older person having sex with a boy aged about 14.
Mr Schofield added that when Jones was questioned he admitted coming across the pictures while he was searching for homosexual fantasy stories about incest and child sex.
Defending, Gerard Quirke said many of the images in the original charges had been within 'banner images', over which the person accessing a site has no control, and there were only three for which Jones accepts responsibility.
He said: "This man is a gay man.
"He is prevented from expressing his homosexuality with another man so, in order to gratify himself, he has gone onto the computer looking for adult homosexual images.
"The vast majority of the images are of adult males but it is a danger when one puts in words like 'twink', which is homosexual slang for a young-looking male, that an image appears of someone appearing to be under the age of 18 - and the offence is then committed.
"He has, in his trawlings for adult pornography, managed to download three pictures which are right at the bottom end of the scale."
He said that for only three images it is often the case that the person would be cautioned by the police.
He added: "It did not happen in this case. One does not know why, although one can guess.
"If this man were not a Catholic priest, it would never have come out of the police station."
Mr Quirke said Fr Tony, who had served in the armed forces, will always remain a priest, but has lost his right to minister and cannot celebrate mass or tend to parishioners.
Judge Charles Harris QC told Fr Tony: "You are in many ways quite a distinguised man. I have seen a number of references about you, lay, military and ecclesiastical and you have had a church career of some distinction.
"That a priest should utilise such material is particularly disagreeable, since your role in life should be to promote cleanliness of mind.
"But bearing in mind the degree to which you have fallen and the ruin of your career as a priest, I am willing to deal with the matter in the manner suggested."
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