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26/09/2008
Welsh Vicar Jailed Over Child Porn Offences
A Welsh vicar has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years for possessing more than 56,000 indecent images of children.
The Reverend Richard Hart, 59, from Beguildy, near Knighton in Powys pleaded guilty to 21 charges during a Cardiff Crown Court hearing earlier this week.
Police officers found the images on Hart's computer during a raid at his vicarage, following a tip-off. A "really significant volume" of printed images and tens of thousands more were found on his computer, the court heard.
The offences took place between 1991 and 2007. Of the images showing child sex abuse found, 44 were category five - on a scale of one to five, with five being the most serious - with 52,240 in category one, 684 in category three and a further 1,445 in category four.
After his arrest, the former chairman of governors at Beguildy primary school, was suspended from all pastoral duties
On 3 September Hart was remanded in custody after admitting to 12 charges of making indecent images of children, four of taking indecent images and five of possessing images on computer.
The Church in Wales issued a statement saying the institution was "deeply saddened and shocked" at the "very serious offences involving the use of children".
"There is no place for any form of abuse in the Church in Wales. We give the highest priority to the care and protection of children and vulnerable people in the community.
"To this end we regularly review our child protection policies and we will also shortly begin examining clergy records which pre-date those policies."
(JM)
The Reverend Richard Hart, 59, from Beguildy, near Knighton in Powys pleaded guilty to 21 charges during a Cardiff Crown Court hearing earlier this week.
Police officers found the images on Hart's computer during a raid at his vicarage, following a tip-off. A "really significant volume" of printed images and tens of thousands more were found on his computer, the court heard.
The offences took place between 1991 and 2007. Of the images showing child sex abuse found, 44 were category five - on a scale of one to five, with five being the most serious - with 52,240 in category one, 684 in category three and a further 1,445 in category four.
After his arrest, the former chairman of governors at Beguildy primary school, was suspended from all pastoral duties
On 3 September Hart was remanded in custody after admitting to 12 charges of making indecent images of children, four of taking indecent images and five of possessing images on computer.
The Church in Wales issued a statement saying the institution was "deeply saddened and shocked" at the "very serious offences involving the use of children".
"There is no place for any form of abuse in the Church in Wales. We give the highest priority to the care and protection of children and vulnerable people in the community.
"To this end we regularly review our child protection policies and we will also shortly begin examining clergy records which pre-date those policies."
(JM)
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