Former monk who sexually abused boys as young as nine jailed for more than 20 years

Peter Turner targeted two victims while working as parish priest after being kicked out of school for abusing another boy

Former monk Peter Turner, 80, has been jailed for more than 20 years after admitting sexually abusing three boys more than 30 years ago at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire, and Workington, Cumbria. (PA)

A former monk at a Catholic boarding school who sexually abused boys as young as nine has been jailed for more than 20 years.

Peter Turner, 80, was removed from Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire in 1987 after he told the headteacher about having sexual contact with a pupil.

He showed the boy, who was just 10 when the abuse began, pornography, made him perform sex acts on him and himself, touched him sexually and committed buggery.

The abuse took place in a number of areas of Ampleforth, including a hermitage and during car journeys.

Tom Storey, prosecuting, said Turner told the boy it was their secret and gave him sweets and alcohol and taught him how to drive a car in the school grounds.

He said: “He described being completely dominated by the defendant and completely at his mercy, unable of saying anything and did not know who to seek help from.”

Turner — who was previously known as Father Gregory Carroll — was sent away from the school to work as a parish priest in Workington, Cumbria, where he went on to abuse two more boys.

The victims were aged between nine and 12 and were subjected to indecent assaults and gross indecency on a nearby beach and in Turner’s car.

Turner, from Redcar, North Yorkshire, was sentenced to 20 years 10 months at York Crown Court on Wednesday after admitting to 11 counts of indecent assault, two counts of buggery and one count of gross indecency with a child.

Former monk Peter Turner, 80, has been jailed for more than 20 years after admitting sexually abusing three boys more than 30 years ago at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire, and Workington, Cumbria. (North Yorkshire Police)

He had already served another jail sentence in 2005 after admitting offences against 10 pupils at Ampleforth between 1979 and 1987.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said: “You have brought evil into this world when, by your calling, you should have brought hope, help and succour.”

He added: “You were a priest at Ampleforth boarding school.

“It’s a religious school and, no doubt, because of that, that’s a comfort to parents because they will be thinking that they are entrusting the care of their child to men of God, instead, in your case it was to a man of evil.

“You abused your position as teacher and priest to sexually abuse [the boy] repeatedly, callously and with devastating effects on his life.”

The court heard emotional victim impact statements from the three men in which they spoke about the effect Turner’s abuse has had on their lives.

After sending Turner to the cells, Judge Morris said: “All of them have talked about their shame.

“They have nothing to be ashamed of, they carry no guilt.

“I hope this helps, in some way, to put them at peace.”

If you have been affected by sexual violence, you can find help via the NHS. Rape Crisis offers specialist support for women and girls; and the The Survivors’ Trust supports people of any gender.

Additional reporting by Press Association