Ex-clergyman guilty of ‘sinister’ Newton Aycliffe sex abuse

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired clergyman has been convicted of “sinister and deliberate” sex abuse in the 1970s and 80s.

Granville Gibson, 80, abused two men aged 18 and 26 while he was vicar at St Claire’s Church in Newton Aycliffe, Durham Crown Court heard.

He denied the charges but was convicted of two counts of indecent assault after trial. He was cleared of five other charges.

The Church of England issued an “unreserved apology” to the victims.

The court heard Gibson, who was later made an archdeacon, was guilty of “sinister and deliberate” sex abuse and a gross breach of trust.

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