By Rob Middleton
Northampton Chronicle & Echo
July 29, 2008
http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Sex-abuse-priest-jailed-for.4333272.jp
A parish priest who sexually abused two young boys while at a Northamptonshire church has been jailed for five years.
The Rev Collin Pritchard, aged 64, was in charge of a church in Wellingborough, when he started repeatedly sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy more than 25 years ago.
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| Collin Pritchard arriving at court for an earlier hearing |
Pritchard, who was educated in Northampton, pleaded guilty at the town's Crown Court yesterday to four indecent assaults of two boys and three acts of gross indecency, dating back to the early 1980s.
Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Metcalf told the disgraced vicar he had caused lasting damage.
He said: "Your sexual gratification took no account of the shame, pain and anguish you caused. Clearly a custodial sentence is inevitable. It was the most appalling breach of trust. I'm afraid it's clear to me from the evidence that you have betrayed your calling.
"You took advantage of young boys who wanted to involve themselves in your church."
Anne Cotcher QC, prosecuting, said Pritchard told his victim: "Oh, they wouldn't understand because it's very special. They would stop us seeing each other."
Pritchard, now living in Bexhill-on-Sea after retiring on health grounds in 1989, indecently assaulted the pair who were in court to see him jailed and put on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.
Icah Peart QC, defending, said Pritchard appreciated he was homosexual but kept it suppressed due to his vocation.
He added: "These offences plainly mark the nadir of his personal and professional life."
In a victim impact statement, one of the victims said: "I hate what he did to me, how it makes me feel and the person it turns me into.
"He was a person in a position of trust who abused that position in the worst way possible."
A Spokesman for the Diocese of Peterborough said: "The Church of England takes child protection very seriously. The crimes were a betrayal of the standards expected by the clergy and we offer our sympathy to the victims of these crimes and their families.
Pritchard, who went to Northampton Grammar School, was appointed a curate in Duston parish. He also worked at t St James Church School, Northampton.
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