BBC News
January 29, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/7858709.stm
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| Richard Hart admitted all 21 charges against him in court |
A vicar jailed for making, taking and possessing more than 56,000 indecent images of children has been removed from Holy Orders.
Richard Hart, from Beguildy, near Knighton, Powys was imprisoned for three-and-a-half years at Cardiff Crown Court last September.
Hart, 59, has now been deposed from Holy Orders by a Church in Wales disciplinary tribunal.
He has also been expelled as a cleric of the Church in Wales.
The complaint against him alleged that he was guilty of "conduct giving just cause for scandal or offence".
Hart did not attend the hearing and refused to be represented.
However, he provided a written statement in which he did not deny the charge, but did not admit it either, said the tribunal.
The president of the tribunal Gerard Elias QC said the decision to depose Hart was considered after the "immense seriousness and depravity" of the offences coupled with the absence of "regret or apology".
"We were unhesitatingly of the view that by reason of his conduct it was wholly inappropriate for Richard Hart to remain a cleric and accordingly we order that Richard Hart be deposed from Holy Orders and expelled from the office of cleric of the Church in Wales," he said.
The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, the Rt Rev John Davies, said the tribunal's order reflected the seriousness of Hart's offence.
He added: "It sends out the very clear message that there is no room for any form of child abuse in the Church in Wales."
In September last year, Cardiff Crown Court was told how Hart had a collection of more than 56,000 indecent images, 97 films and fictional stories about sex with children.
He admitted all 21 charges against him, and the offences dated between 1991 and 2007.
His vast collection of images came from websites in Brazil, Germany, Japan, the UK, the US, Denmark, Russia and other eastern European countries.
Hart was ordained in 1986 and was priest-in-charge of four parishes in south Powys.
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