By Vince Soodin
The Sun [United Kingdom]
May 3, 2007
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007200540,00.html
A parish priest was today jailed for five-and-half-years after being convicted of sexually abusing boys over nearly 30 years.
The Rev David Smith, 52, took advantage of his trusted position to groom and molest six vulnerable youngsters.
He indecently assaulted some of his young victims during sleep-overs at the vicarage in Clevedon, Somerset, and during holidays abroad.
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| Jailed ... Rev David Smith |
The two-week trial at Bristol Crown Court heard that concerns about the vicar were raised with the Church of England on two occasions, first in 1983 and again in 2001.
The two complainants were assured that the matter had been "dealt with", but Smith continued to abuse boys in his parish.
Smith, vicar of St John the Evangelist in Clevedon, had denied all 12 charges against him, claiming they were a "figment of someone's imagination".
The Church of England was twice warned that a parish priest had allegedly been abusing boys, but continued to allow him to work with youngsters.
Parents had wrongly assumed that their sons were in safe hands with Smith, and happily agreed to let him take them away on holidays or day trips.
They were never told that Father David, who regularly invited boys to the vicarage, had once been investigated by the police in the early 1980s amid claims he was a paedophile.
And when a former schoolboy, who claimed he had been abused by Smith in the 1970s, wrote to the Church in 2001 expressing his concerns, he was reassured the matter had been "dealt with."
But Smith was not only still working with children, but was still actively grooming and molesting boys.
The Church had allowed the popular vicar to continue working in the seaside parish of Clevedon, Somerset, which he had helped reinvigorate by setting up a youth club and choir.
Smith was also trusted to take away children on day trips to the seaside after the sexual abuse allegations came to light.
The Church had first been made aware of concerns over Smith, when he developed a close friendship with a young boy in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, in 1982.
Smith had lent the boy money, despite knowing he spent it on gambling and drinking in local pubs.
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