Church of England Vicar Jailed For Abusing Young Boys

[Ian David]

A Church of England vicar has been jailed for five and a half years after being found guilty of sexually abusing a string of young boys.

The Rev David Smith, 52, groomed and molested six vulnerable youngsters over a period of nearly 30 years.

The abuse started in 1976 when he was a boarding school teacher and continued until 2005.

He indecently assaulted some during sleep-overs at the vicarage in Clevedon, Somerset.



More:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1264000,00.html

[papau]

1. Do we post sex crime convictions only when they involve religious folk with the purpose to

show some religious folks leaders are committing sex crimes? Is it the betrayal of trust that makes it interesting - because the vast majority cases involve relatives and a betrayal of trust - there is not just the religious betrayal cases. Is it saying one thing and doing another - or that they talked to others about morals - because again just about every person convicted pretended to be a moral person to the public, and many have a history of speaking out against moral evil to their workplace companions. Indeed the lack of a religious angle on the vast majority of such crimes leads some in the public to assume it an atheist problem, and to dislike atheists because of such stories. Perhaps these posts give balance?

And indeed I am sure this is just posting something of interest to the general DU population - and not an attempt to smear all things religious. I suspect the reason these pop up in GD is the ease of cut and pasting a media story that has shock value. We usual get 3 shots on DU at the minister/pastor who commits a sex crime - the accusation, the trial, and the conviction. It is a curious, the need to post each time, but perhaps it is good idea.

After all it is news and you have every right to post this interesting news in General Discussion.

But other DUers have questions as to the purpose of the DU Board and these posts:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x821069