UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail
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 FOR MAILONLINE
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.
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