The defendant, a former youth leader in a Church in Brighton and Hove, was convicted of indecently assaulting two young men in the late 1980’s. Each attended the defendant’s home where he touched them intimately, including masturbating one of them on more than one occasion.

The trial, which lasted three-and-a-half weeks, involved witnesses giving evidence from Australia, Spain and various UK courts.

In sentencing the defendant to a suspended sentence order ,HHJ Gold KC took into account his lack of other convictions and the fact that he became an inpatient in a mental health ward after, he said, being subjected to an attempted exorcism at the time.

The case was reported in local press here: https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2023/11/03/hove-church-youth-leader-spared-prison-after-abusing-two-young-men/#google_vignette