A priest and former children’s home worker has pleaded guilty to 27 counts of sexual assault against children in the 1970s.
Philip Temple, 66, of no fixed address, served at Christ the King Monastery in Cockfosters, north London, where he abused two children, including an altar boy.
Temple appeared at Woolwich crown court in south-east London yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to seven counts of non-recent sexual assault.
Previously he had appeared at Croydon crown court and pleaded guilty to 20 counts of non-recent sexual assault and two counts of perjury relating to the previous assault trials. He was jailed for 12 years on Wednesday.
Prior to becoming a Benedictine monk in 1981 and a priest in 1987 he had abused boys and a girl while working in care homes in south London.
Judge Christopher Hehir described him as “a wolf in shepherd’s clothing”.
Temple stood trial twice in the 1990s over the allegations of abuse at Christ the King Monastery and maintained his innocence on both occasions.
One of his victims, who cannot be named, told the court yesterday that he self-harmed and attempted suicide after the trials. "I am sorry justice was not done when you came to court in 1998 and 1999,” Judge Hehir told the victim on Tuesday.
Following those trials, the Archdiocese of Westminster wanted him removed. In 2002, his order assured the diocese that he was not in the UK and would not be returning. He was arrested in London in 2015.
A spokesperson for the Catholic Church in England and Wales said when concerns were raised it was limited in the measures it could take because as a monk he was answerable to the head of his order in Italy rather than the archdiocese here.
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