Priests Indecent Images of Young Boys
Wednesday, 23rd April 2003.
POLICE caught a Catholic priest with child pornography after he used his credit card to pay for the pictures.
Father Neil Crayden, who is still ordained in the church, was trapped by Operation Ore – the child pornography investigation that has led to hundreds of convictions in the UK.
Police traced him through credit card details after he bought and downloaded indecent pictures of children from a Texas-based company in May, 1999.
The firm, Landslide Productions, was raided by the American authorities and thousands of credit card details were seized.
Crayden who has previously been cautioned for indecently assaulting a teenage boy, worked in the St Felix parish of Haverhill for five months from January, 2001. He was sentenced by Exeter magistrates yesterday and placed on a sex offenders' programme, as well as being ordered to pay £58 costs.
The priest, who has previously worked in Mildenhall and Brandon and as an adviser on religious education to his diocese in East Anglia, admitted receiving child pornography and six charges of possessing indecent images of children.
A former teacher and chaplain at the University of East Anglia, he was found to have six pictures of boys on a floppy disk, although he did not own a computer when detectives raided his Plymouth home in December.
Five of the pictures were rated four out of five on the points scale, indicating they showed sex between children and adults. The other was level two.
In 1979 Crayden was convicted of indecently assaulting a man over the age of 16 and in August, 2001 he was cautioned for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old male parishioner in 1995.
He was moved from Haverhill to Lipson in Devon and has not worked actively as a priest since being cautioned.
Carol Maden, chairman of the magistrates, said: "You were in a position of trust with vulnerable people around you and you have a previous history of offences involving young males.
"However, there was no interaction with the subjects of these photographs and you did not distribute them and you are seeking help from a psychotherapist."
John Smethhurst, for Crayden, said his client had taken steps to avoid further offending, including not owning a computer.
"He realises what he has done is, in his own words, disgusting and completely unacceptable. He has deep feelings of remorse and he knows he needs help," he said.
In a statement issued after sentencing, Bishop Michael Evans, Bishop of East Anglia, said: "Any form of abuse of children, including child pornography, is something we can never tolerate as Christians and it is always sad when a priest is involved.
"Children are always damaged in some way by such abuse and the charges brought against Neil Crayden will cause deep concern to many people in our diocese, especially those places where he served as a priest.
"All I can do now is apologise most profoundly for the damage he has done and renew the commitment of the dioceses to do all we can to ensure that children, young people and vulnerable adults are always completely safe, as well as welcomed and loved, within the life of our church."
He added: "Father Crayden's future as a Catholic priest is now subject to due process within the procedures of the church and we will keep him in our prayers and care."
Father Neil Crayden, who is still ordained in the church, was trapped by Operation Ore – the child pornography investigation that has led to hundreds of convictions in the UK.
Police traced him through credit card details after he bought and downloaded indecent pictures of children from a Texas-based company in May, 1999.
The firm, Landslide Productions, was raided by the American authorities and thousands of credit card details were seized.
Crayden who has previously been cautioned for indecently assaulting a teenage boy, worked in the St Felix parish of Haverhill for five months from January, 2001. He was sentenced by Exeter magistrates yesterday and placed on a sex offenders' programme, as well as being ordered to pay £58 costs.
The priest, who has previously worked in Mildenhall and Brandon and as an adviser on religious education to his diocese in East Anglia, admitted receiving child pornography and six charges of possessing indecent images of children.
A former teacher and chaplain at the University of East Anglia, he was found to have six pictures of boys on a floppy disk, although he did not own a computer when detectives raided his Plymouth home in December.
Five of the pictures were rated four out of five on the points scale, indicating they showed sex between children and adults. The other was level two.
In 1979 Crayden was convicted of indecently assaulting a man over the age of 16 and in August, 2001 he was cautioned for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old male parishioner in 1995.
He was moved from Haverhill to Lipson in Devon and has not worked actively as a priest since being cautioned.
Carol Maden, chairman of the magistrates, said: "You were in a position of trust with vulnerable people around you and you have a previous history of offences involving young males.
"However, there was no interaction with the subjects of these photographs and you did not distribute them and you are seeking help from a psychotherapist."
John Smethhurst, for Crayden, said his client had taken steps to avoid further offending, including not owning a computer.
"He realises what he has done is, in his own words, disgusting and completely unacceptable. He has deep feelings of remorse and he knows he needs help," he said.
In a statement issued after sentencing, Bishop Michael Evans, Bishop of East Anglia, said: "Any form of abuse of children, including child pornography, is something we can never tolerate as Christians and it is always sad when a priest is involved.
"Children are always damaged in some way by such abuse and the charges brought against Neil Crayden will cause deep concern to many people in our diocese, especially those places where he served as a priest.
"All I can do now is apologise most profoundly for the damage he has done and renew the commitment of the dioceses to do all we can to ensure that children, young people and vulnerable adults are always completely safe, as well as welcomed and loved, within the life of our church."
He added: "Father Crayden's future as a Catholic priest is now subject to due process within the procedures of the church and we will keep him in our prayers and care."
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