The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Ifor Whittaker, a former priest at St John The Baptist Church in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, England, and a serial sexual predator, was sentenced to life in prison after admitting to raping a six-year-old boy in the vestry of the church.
A former Anglican vicar who admitted raping a child in his parish has been jailed for life with a minimum term of eight years.
Ifor Whittaker, 80, admitted rape and gross indecency of a boy in the vestry of St John the Baptist Church in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, where he served as a priest at the time under the name of Colin Pritchard.
The offences are reported to have taken place during the late 1990s when the victim was a young child.
Judge Gary Lucie said Whittaker had baptised him, and that the victim was often left in his care.
He told Whittaker: “You told him… it would be your little secret. Even now he still suffers with mental health issues and had flashbacks.
“There are, in my opinion, serious concerns that you remain a danger to young children,” the judge said.
“You are a predatory paedophile, I doubt that you will ever cease to be a danger to young boys.”
Whittaker was sentenced on Tuesday at Hove Crown Court.
In 2018, Whittaker was jailed for 16 years for sexually abusing a boy and conspiring with another priest to abuse the child.
At the time of that sentencing, the judge said the abuser had “plied the victim with alcohol” and “emotionally blackmailed the boy by saying ‘no one would believe you over a priest'”.
He had previously been jailed for five years in 2008 for the abuse of two children in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, between 1979 and 1983.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Chichester said its safeguarding team had worked closely with Sussex Police on the case since it was reported.
They said the sentence reflected “the terrible nature of his crimes”.
“The victim in this case has shown extraordinary courage in coming forward to report Whittaker’s crimes,” they added.
“We apologise unreservedly to him for the appalling abuse he suffered.”
Sussex Police Det Con Nicky Beard said: “Ifor Whittaker is a predator who used his position of trust in the community to rape and sexually abuse young children.”
One of the survivors of Whittaker’s abuse, Phil Johnson, present at the sentencing, said the judge’s move felt like “moral justice” to hand down a life sentence, as the impact on victims is lifelong.
“I think this is a really powerful message, because in nearly 30 years of being involved in cases like this, I’ve never heard of a life sentence being handed down in this way before,” he said.
The 59-year-old who runs support groups for adult survivors of child sexual abuse said it sends a powerful signal to other victims that there is hope and to abusers that this could happen to them too.
But Mr Johnson, who has waived his right to lifetime anonymity, said he first reported Whittaker to authorities several years before the abuse he was sentenced for on Tuesday took place.
“Had the police and the church taken these allegations more seriously, this offence wouldn’t have happened. Whittaker wasn’t even suspended from his job whilst he was on police bail. That’s just utterly appalling.
“Thankfully, things have changed and improved since then, but it’s been a long and hard battle.”
In a message to other survivors of abuse, he added: “I would encourage other victims and survivors to come forward and speak about their abuse, because it’s only by doing that that we can prevent these things happening in the future.
“I would encourage people to get support. Talk about it. The more you talk about it, the easier it gets.”
Sussex Police said the initial investigation into Whittaker did not result in a conviction and the force recognises the impact this had on the victim of that investigation.
“We have made significant improvements to how sex offences are understood and investigated in the intervening years and remain fully committed to bringing offenders to justice,” a spokesman said.
Speaking outside of court, Sussex Police investigating officer Nicky Beard urged other victims of sexual offending to report it to the police, adding: “We will listen to you.”
Reacting to the sentencing, she said: “The victim has lived with the impact of this abuse for all his life, most of his life, and he’s shown so much courage to come forward and report him, to help us to get justice for him.
“I hope this outcome can finally give him closure, and Whittaker spends most of it, if not the rest of his life, behind bars.”
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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