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'Evil' former monk who abused boys under 13 after being moved by church is jailed

Peter Turner leaving York Crown Court on Tuesday. (SWNS)
Peter Turner leaving York Crown Court on Tuesday. (SWNS)

An “evil” former monk who abused two boys under 13 after being relocated for admitting previous sexual offences has been jailed.

Peter Turner, 80, was sent to Workington, Cumbria, in 1987 after he told church authorities he had committed sex offences against a boy at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire.

On Wednesday he was jailed for 20 years and 10 months at York Crown Court.

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 was convicted in 2005 of offences against 10 pupils at that school between 1979 and 1987 and initially sentenced to four years in prison – later reduced to three.

On Tuesday, Turner – previously known as Father Gregory Carroll – admitted indecent assault and buggery against another boy at Ampleforth, which took place between September 1984 and January 1987, when the boy was aged between 10 and 12.

Former monk Peter Turner, 80, arriving at York Crown Court, where he entered guilty pleas to 14 charges of sexually abusing three children aged under 13. The offences occurred more than 20 years ago while he was working at Ampleforth College, in North Yorkshire, and a parish in Workington, Cumbria.
Former monk Peter Turner, 80, arriving at York Crown Court. (PA Images)

After being sent to Workington, he went on to indecently assault another boy, aged nine or 10, between October 1987 and December 1988.

A third boy was aged between 10 and 12 when Turner committed gross indecency and indecent assault against him between June 1987 and June 1990.

Both of those boys were abused after Turner was sent to Workington by the church after he admitted committing sexual abuse at Ampleforth.

The judge told Turner: “You were a priest at Ampleforth boarding school.”

He continued: “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.”

The court also heard victim impact statements from the three men who spoke about how Turner’s abuse had affected their lives.

Judge Morris said: “All of them have talked about their shame.

Ampleforth Abbey and College, where Turner committed offences against boys in the 1980s. (SWNS)
Ampleforth Abbey and College, where Turner committed offences against boys in the 1980s. (SWNS)

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

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

Turner, from Redcar, was recalled from Workington and confined to the monastery at Ampleforth after the 2001 publication of the Nolan Report into clerical child abuse.

Nicola Gatto, defending, said on Tuesday that Turner’s offending stopped when he was recalled from Workington and he had been “dormant” for about 18 years.