Pedophile Clergyman Gets Prison for Child Porn

(Wales, UK) A 59-year-old vicar at the Beguildy Church in Wales, Richard Hart, pleaded guilty to 21 charges of child pornography stemming from the discovery of 57,000 filthy images of children in his home. Hart even enlarged one image and posted it on the wall in the vicarage bathroom.

As a result, pedophile Hart was sentenced in Cardiff Crown Court to three and one-half years in prison.

Many of the pictures were of children who enrolled in Sunday School during his 17 years in the village of Beguildy, near Knighton, Mid Wales. Others, described as 'stomach-churning', came from the internet.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Hart's wife Julia, 41, a teaching assistant, knew he had pictures of children as young as five.

Prosecutor Ieuan Morris, who called her attitude 'bizarre', said that when police arrived at the vicarage she said she was not surprised to see them.

After her husband was arrested she told police: 'We occasionally looked at images of teenage girls, sometimes leading to sexual intercourse.'

She added: 'If parents were happy to have their children on the internet in this manner it wasn't anyone else's business.

Hart was also added to the sexual offenders register and banned from working with children. Wife Julia Hart was also punished. She has been disqualified from working with children for two years. In summary, Hart gets less than a handful of years in prison and his wife gets nothing.

It's noteworthy to mention that if Hart had been prosecuted in the U.S. for possessing 57,000 child porn images, he would likely be facing 50 years in prison. Apparently, British law is rather blasé regarding child pornography.

Tip: slwlion