March 2000
Vicar abused bell-ringer
A vicar who molested a 13-year-old bell-ringer 25 years ago was jailed yesterday for six months.
The Rev Anthony Clayton, 63, a former personal chaplain to the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, abused the boy at his vicarage in Lockington, Derbyshire.
He then bought the youth’s silence with promises of a job with the church when he left school, London’s Middlesex Guildhall crown court was told.
Passing sentence, Judge Fabyan Evans said the youth had been no stranger to homosexual activities, but “your behaviour contributed and certainly did not halt his corruption”.
Clayton, from Nottingham, was convicted of one count of indecent assault, but was cleared of other offences against the boy, now 38 and living in Lancashire.
The jury heard character references from both the Duchess of Rutland and the former bishop of Leicester, Richard Rutt.
