Former Rye priest charged over indecent images of children

Paul Clarke, now of Redclyffe Road, Urmston, Manchester, but formerly of Watchbell Road, Rye, is due to appear on bail at Brighton Magistrates Court on Thursday, October 15..

The 71-year-old former priest from St Anthony’s Church faces four charges.

One alleges his possession of an indecent image of a child, another alleges his possession of prohibited images, and three allege his making a total of 3100 indecent images of children.

The charges, authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, follow an intelligence led investigation by the Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) of Sussex Police.

Officers had executed a search warrant at Clarke’s Rye address, the residential presbytery attached to St Anthony’s Church, on November 13, 2014, and seized computers and related material.

All the charges involve images allegedly taken from the Internet.

There is no evidence of contact offending and none of the images are of local children.

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