Former priest is jailed for eight years in Portsmouth after 'devastating' sexual abuse against women

Meirion Griffiths, 81, was unanimously found guilty of three charges of indecent assault by a jury last month.

Griffiths, a former Chichester diocese priest, indecently assaulted a teenager and a woman in her 20s during the 1970s and 1980s.

Today, judge Roger Hetherington sentenced him to eight years behind bars.

He said: ‘You pursued her [a victim] relentlessly so that she not only felt unsafe but also confused.

‘That something so extraordinary could have occurred is a matter of the hold you held over her derived from your position in the church.

‘You exploited the trust she had in you. The effect of what you did has been devastating.’

Griffiths moved to Australia in 1988, but was extradited back to the UK for his trial.

One of his victims read out a statement via video link, explaining how his control over her life was ‘unlimited’.

She said: ‘When I went to him I genuinely believed he wouldn’t tell me to do something that was wrong.

‘I felt disgusted by what he was making me do; I could make no sense of it.

‘Over the course of the next year my life plunged into turmoil and chaos. It destroyed my faith in God and my relationship with my parents.’

Griffiths’ other victim said: ‘The abuse to which I was subjected to cause profound and irreparable damage, not only to me but others in my life.

‘Instead of encouraging me to find independence, he removed it and used that to abuse me.

‘He would let himself into my house and bedroom - I now fear the power of men in authority.’

Both victims also talked about their experiences of having to live with PTSD following the abuse.

Griffiths sat emotionless in the dock as both statements were read out in court.

Mitigating, Sarah Jones QC said: His health problems since the stroke some time ago are significant and they have not improved since his conviction.’

The court also heard how his family in Australia will have to cope without him, including his 89-year-old wife.

Judge Hetherington ruled that there would be no additional court costs to pay.