Former Priest Sentenced to More Than Six Years for Sexual Offences against Young Men

Hastings & St. Leonards Observer
October 29, 2015

http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/local/breaking-news-former-priest-sentenced-to-more-than-six-years-for-sexual-offences-against-young-men-1-7038688

Vickery House SUS-151029-160021001

A now retired Church of England priest has been sentenced to a total of six and a half years imprisonment for five sexual offences against four young men in the 1970s and 1980s.

Vickery House, 69, of Brighton Road, Handcross, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Thursday (October 29) having been convicted on Tuesday after a 12-day trial.

He was found guilty of two offences against a boy in Devon between 1970 and 1971; one offence in East Sussex between 1983 and 1985, was against another man; one offence was against a man in East Sussex in 1981; and one offence was against another man in East Sussex in 1985.

He was found not guilty of one offence in Devon against the second victim and of one offence against each of two other men, in East Sussex and in London.

Detective Inspector Jez Prior of Sussex Police said, “This complex investigation began when we received information from the Church of England in May 2012, concerning one of the victims who he has been found guilty of assaulting. The others came forward during the investigation.

“The case was about power that House, who was a priest when all these offences were committed, exercised while he was responsible for ministering to their spiritual needs, and it was about opportunism, as he took advantage of situations in which to sexually assault them.

“Our investigation into House began in May 2012 when we followed up information we received from the Church of England about Bishop Peter Ball.

“This led us to the first of House’s victims, three others came forward as a result of publicity about our investigation later that year, and the other victim was traced by police as a result of the investigation

"Ball was sentenced to 32 months imprisonment at the Old Bailey on 7 October as a result of our investigation of his offending.

“We had complete co-operation from the Church of England throughout this investigation.

“During the trial the Court heard about a letter written by a senior member of the clergy to a young man in April 1984, expressing concern about ‘the affair you were subjected to with Vick’. Now that the trial has finished we can confirm that the senior clergy member was Bishop Peter Ball.

“The letter was handed to us, by the person who received it in 1984, when he contacted us in 2012 having seen publicity about our investigation.