Ex-bishop jailed for sex attacks on boy
BBC News
Welsh News ServicesA former bishop was sentenced to jail for sexual abuse of boys during his five-year pastor.
Anthony Pierce, 84, was the bishop of Swansea and Brecon from 1999 to 2008, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent charges for children under the age of 16.
The Swansea Royal Court heard about the abuse that occurred between 1985 and 1990, which included sexual contact, while Pierce was the parish pastor of Swansea West Cross.
Sent Pierce to four months and one month – he will serve in prison before holding the license – “You took advantage of his age and his status of trust,” said Judge Catherine Richards.
The victim read a statement in court that he remembered “my abuse happened to me” and had “overwhelming sense of embarrassment” because I couldn’t have the courage to say no”.
“My self-esteem and self-worth are very low. I don’t have friends. I feel trapped because I can’t get rid of the trauma of what happened.”
He added that after he spoke out, he felt “overwhelmingly relieved” and felt like he had been “released from what has been in me for years.”
Prosecutor Dean Pulling told the court that the abuse was “totally uninvited and unnecessary.”
Speaking to Pierce, Judge Richards added: “There is only one person who should be ashamed of what happened, and that is you.”
In 2002, Pierce was appointed commander of the Order of St John and in 2010 became a knight of the Order of St John, an honor of “excellent” charitable service to those in a hospital setting and in need.
St. John’s Ambulance said he was no longer a member of the order.
Pierce became the bishop of Swansea and Brecon in January 2008, and is 67 years old.
He was awarded an honorary scholarship by Swansea University, which the institution now says it will review.
After the sentence, Monique McKevitt of the Crown Prosecutor’s Office called the attack “a grave abuse of trust by the pastor” and “for years, the victims “caused victims.”
She added: “Anthony Pierce is a man who is commissioned to preside over baptism, funerals, weddings and prayers.”
