January 2014
Paedophile choirmaster who abused children in Farnworth church is jailed
A CHOIRMASTER has been jailed after admitting abusing young children in the vestry at a Farnworth church.
Peter Williams was in charge of two choirs and was organist at St James’ CE Church, Farnworth, in the 1970s, Bolton Crown Court heard.
Rachel White, prosecuting, told how he preyed on an 11-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy, using his position of trust in the church to sexually assault them.
Judge Timothy Clayson sentenced 60-year-old Williams to 28 months in prison adding that, had he committed his crimes more recently than the 1970s, he would have been facing a much longer sentence.
Williams, of Claremont Road, Salford, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecently assaulting a child and one count of indecency with a child.
The court heard that Williams, who was in his mid-20s in the late 1970s when the offences occurred, was responsible for the choirs’ practices and performances and had a position of trust in the community.
Judge Clayson said: “What you did to them was a very serious breach of trust.”
The abuse began when one of the choirgirls, then aged 11 or 12, was followed into a toilet by Williams who hugged her and then placed his hands on her bottom.
“Having committed that offence and got away with it, what followed was more serious.”
When the girl was aged 13, and alone with him in the vestry, he got her to perform a sex act on him which only ended when they were interrupted by a passer-by.
Williams also turned his attentions to a nine-year-old boy, ordering him to take his trousers down before sexually abusing him.
Judge Clayson was told that, in the early 1970s, before the offences were committed, Williams had already appeared in court for indecent behaviour on church premises.
