UNITED STATES
Eastbourne Herald

A retired priest from Eastbourne, Robert Coles, has been sentenced to sixteen months imprisonment after admitting sex offences against a young boy in Portslade between 38 and 41 years ago.

He is already serving an eight-year sentence for similar offences against three other young boys in West Sussex between 31 and 38 years ago.

The 16-month sentence will run consecutively to that eight-year sentence.

Coles, 74, of Upperton Road, Eastbourne, a now retired Church of England priest, pleaded guilty at Hove Crown Court on Friday (June 12) to eight offences of indecent assault against a boy then aged under 16, between 1974 and 1977 – all at a vicarage where Coles formerly lived and worked in Foredown Drive, Portslade.

Coles is already in prison, serving an eight-year sentence imposed at Brighton Crown Court on February 14 2013 having pleaded guilty to 11 offences, ie; one…