Church bosses have admitted that a report on how it dealt with two Sussex paedophile priests contained errors.

However, they insist new information about the priests did not come to light until after the report was published.

Roy Cotton was ordained in 1966 but already had a 1954 conviction for indecently assaulting a choir boy.

He went on to abuse at least ten boys from Eastbourne.

Colin Pritchard, who was vicar of St Barnabas, Bexhill, until 2007, was jailed for five years in 2008 for sex offences in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

A review by Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss looked at how claims of abuse by the pair in the 1970s and 1980s were dealt with.

Cotton was given permission by Bishop Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes, to continue with priestly duties after he retired in 1999. Bishop Benn is said to have told Baroness ButlerSloss he was not concerned about Cotton because of his ill health and lack of contact with children.

However, Cotton is now known to have still been working in three churches with access to children.

Baroness Butler-Sloss was told Cotton was given permission to celebrate Communion in the nursing home where he was living in 1999.

However Cotton did not enter the nursing home until 2003 and conducted a wedding at Seddlescombe Church, near Hastings, on Valentine’s Day, 2002.

The Diocese of Chichester confirmed yesterday that it has launched its own investigation into the errors and has discovered other services he officiated at.

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Chichester said: “What is now clear is that there were periods between 1999 and 2003 where he was sufficiently healthy to be able to minister in parishes and we have verified a number of these dates.

“This correction, in our view, does not undermine the credibility of the Butler-Sloss report.

“It underscores one of the report’s conclusions that the failure to remove his permission to officiate in 2001 when the 1954 conviction came to light was a serious error.

“The diocese has already apologised in full for that error but acknowledges the new information demonstrates even more strongly how important it is to get these matters right.”

In her report, Baroness Butler-Sloss said that she had difficulty in confirming some information because of the poor standards of record-keeping at the time and the need to rely on the memories of those involved.