A former priest and headteacher has been jailed for 10 years for molesting two boys

Christopher Howarth, 68, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court after being found guilty of 26 counts of historic sexual abuse against the young boys.

He groomed them using cash and gifts when they were aged between 10 and 17.

The former deputy headteacher at Uckfield Community Technology College had denied allegations, saying they were motivated by “financial gain” and that he was too overweight to be sexually active.

But jurors at Hove Crown Court convicted him in July of 26 out of the 31 allegations which took place at his home and at the college.

Howarth, of Rocks Park Road, Uckfield, had already pleaded guilty to an offence against one of the boys.

The court heard how one of the victims first revealed the abuse to his mother seven years later as he was about to meet a support worker to discuss his misuse of cannabis.

Howarth was a priest at St Michael’s in Little Horsted, Holy Cross in Uckfield and St Margaret’s in Ifield until December 2012.

He was deputy headteacher at Uckfield Community Technology College until 2007.

The married retiree justified his sexual behaviour to one of the boys as “preparing him for getting a girlfriend” so that he would not be “scared”, the court heard.

The second victim came to police with fresh allegations following press reports of Howarth’s arrest in 2012, saying the coverage had brought back “all the memories he had tried to forget”.

Mr Howarth told jurors he was in “total, utter shock” when he was arrested by police a fortnight after being suspended as a priest in December 2012.

He said during one incident in which he sexually abused one of the boys, he was carrying out a therapeutic role-playing exercise recommended by a specialist in the 1970s.

Asked why he had given the boys gifts and cash, Mr Howarth told the court he and his wife wanted to “share something of the good life that we have had”.

He added: “Ever since I have been ordained I have on Christmas Day dressed as Santa and used to visit families in the parish.

“I would take a bag full of family presents which I would give out to the children.”