Former vicar pleads guilty to child sex offences

Image source, Eddie Mitchell

Image caption, Ifor Whittaker, pictured here at a previous court appearance, was a vicar at St John the Baptist Church in Sedlescombe

A former Anglican vicar has pleaded guilty to rape and gross indecency with a boy aged under 14.

Ifor Whittaker, 80, was a vicar going by the name of Father Colin Pritchard at St John the Baptist Church in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, when he committed the offences.

Sussex Police said the crimes were reported to have taken place during the late 1990s.

Whittaker pleaded guilty to the charges at Hove Crown Court and has been remanded in custody.

He will be sentenced on 12 November.

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