Ex-priest, 67, Who Used to Dress up As Santa Says He Couldn't Have Sexually Abused Two Young Boys Because He Is Too Fat

By Emma Glanfield
Daily Mail
July 14, 2015

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3161013/Ex-priest-67-used-dress-Santa-says-couldn-t-sexually-abused-two-young-boys-fat.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Christopher Howarth, 67, (pictured outside court), is accused of 19 counts of abusing two boys between 2005 and 2011 but denies the offences - claiming he has not been sexually active since the 1990s

A former priest who used to dress up as Santa has claimed in court that he couldn't have abused two young boys because he is too fat to be sexually active.

Christopher Howarth, from Uckfield, East Sussex, who is also a former deputy school principal, is accused of 19 counts of abusing two underage boys between 2005 and 2011.

However, the 67-year-old, who dressed as Father Christmas to visit families in his parish, denies the offences - telling jurors he has not been sexually active since the mid-1990s because of his weight.

Howarth, who was a lay priest at St Michael's in Little Horsted, East Sussex, Holy Cross in Uckfield and St Margaret's in Ifield, West Sussex, said he was in 'total, utter shock' when he was arrested by police a fortnight after being suspended as a priest in December 2012.

He said he believes the allegations were motivated by financial gain.

He said during one incident in which he is accused of sexually abusing one of the boys, he was carrying out a therapeutic role-playing exercise recommended by a specialist in the 1970s.

Asked why he had given the boys gifts and cash, Howarth told Hove Crown Court that he and his wife wanted to 'share something of the good life that we have had'.

He added: 'Ever since I have been ordained, I have on Christmas Day dressed as Santa and visited families in the parish.

'I would take a bag full of family presents which I would give out to the children.'

The court also heard how the former deputy headteacher at Uckfield Community College in East Sussex used special programmes to remove evidence of files from a school laptop due to be passed on to other teachers.

Under cross examination, he said the files were about his finances and parishioners - not evidence of abuse.

He told the court: 'I had things like my finances in there - lots of details of people and cases I was dealing with in the parish.

'I went to speak to the technicians and they said delete them anyway and there is a programme called EE.'

He added that he later installed a second file-cleaning programme because the first became corrupted.

Howarth denies 19 counts of sexual offences against two young boys between 2005 and 2011, including sexual activity with a child and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

The trial continues.