Church rocked by third abuse priest in as many weeks

The Argus
October 28, 2015

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/13900653.Church_rocked_by_third_abuse_priest_in_as_many_weeks/

Vickery House, pictured praying for victims of terrorist attacks in 2001. Photo by STEVE DENNETT

Retired Church of England vicar Vickery House, 69, returns from lunch to the Old Bailey, London, where he faces eight charges of indecent assault against males as young as 14 between 1970 and 1986.

THE CHURCH was rocked yesterday after a third Sussex priest in as many weeks was found to have committed sexual offences.

Vickery House, former vicar of Berwick, was convicted of five counts of indecent assault on males - with one as young as 14 - over a period of 16 years.

He was cleared on three further counts at the Old Bailey.

It comes after former Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball, was jailed for 32 months on October 7 for committing acts of "debasement" in the name of religion with regards 18 vulnerable victims.

On Thursday last week, former Bishop of Chichester George Ball, was also outed as an offender after the Church paid compensation to a victim he abused more than 50 years ago.

Campaigners are now insisting that the national Goddard Inquiry, into sexual abuse, must start with the Diocese of Chichester.

House, who will be sentenced on Thursday, is the seventh Sussex churchman proved to be an abuser in the last two years.

The 69-year-old, of Brighton Road, Handcross, assaulted victims as young as 14 and even shared victims with Ball.

When House touched one victim, he told the vicar to stop. House responded by blocking his path and declared "I want you".

Offences took place first in Devon and then Berwick where House taught Bible studies under Ball as part of the “Give a Year for Christ” scheme.

Following his conviction it can now be reported that the pair targeted young men and aspiring priests together, with four acolytes abused by both.

One of House’s victims in 1984 was directed to Ball, who responded by writing to say how sorry he was and to assure him that it would be looked into.

Both were arrested in 2012 following a church-led investigation.

The jury in House's trial was not told about his links to Ball who was referred to in court as a senior clergyman.

The Diocese of Chichester could not be reached for comment yesterday evening, but earlier this month Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby opened an internal inquiry into the Church’s handling of the Ball case.

Keith Porteous Wood, director of the National Secular Society, is now calling for the national investigation into abuse to start in Sussex.

Mr Wood said: “This raises serious concerns about the attitude of the diocese.

“We are going to ask the Goddard Inquiry to start first with Chichester where abuse has been rife for decades.”

Phil Johnson, a spokesman for the MACSAS organisation for survivors of clerical abuse, called the conviction the “latest in a long line.”

He added: “It just shows the huge extent of the culture of abuse in Sussex in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.

“And with the news about George Bell last week, it seems it went back even further than we all expected."