Ex-priest Jailed for Abusing Boys

Harborough Mail
December 18, 2012

http://www.harboroughmail.co.uk/news/ex-priest-jailed-for-abusing-boys-1-4594647

A retired Anglican priest from Suffolk who sexually abused teenage boys has been jailed for one year and 10 months.

Father John Haley Dossor, known as Haley, pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault relating to two boys aged as young as 13.

Norwich Crown Court also heard that Dossor accepted he had abused a third boy between 15 and 20 times, although he was not charged with these attacks.

The offences happened when the 71-year-old, of Kirton, near Felixstowe, was working at St Mary's Church in Hadleigh in the early 1990s.

Prosecutor Charles Myatt said Dossor ran a youth group at the church where he was known as being "touchy feely". He had previously served as a district scout leader.

Judge Mark Lucraft made a sexual offences prevention order lasting five years and placed Dossor on the sex offenders register.

One of the victims told police he had not felt able to report the abuse until later in life because Dossor was "very respected".

Some of the six counts were specimen charges, meaning that many more attacks took place, Mr Myatt added.

Lynne Shirley, mitigating, said that at the time of the offences Dossor was going through a "very stressful" period as he got to grips with his new role as a priest, adding he "was a very huggy and tactile person and clearly he overstepped the boundary."

Dossor, who attended court with his wife of 46 years, resigned as a priest when the allegations first came to light in 2009.