2011: NORWICH AND UEA CATHOLIC PRIEST JAILED OVER CHILD PORN CHARGES
A former Norwich Catholic priest has been jailed after admitting downloading child pornography.Father John Shannon, who served at Our Lady and St Walstan's Church in Costessey and was a chaplain at the University of East Anglia before his arrest, blamed his celibacy for his compulsion to view the images of children as young as nine when he appeared at Durham Crown Court yesterday.
The 58-year-old downloaded 740 indecent photographs of children and was given an eight-month jail sentence.
At his first interview he declined to comment, but later read a statement saying it was 'curiosity and lack of self-control that led him to access these websites'.
Police found 521 pictures categorized as Level 1 seriousness, 133 at Level 2, eight at Level 3, 75 at Level 4, and three at Level 5.
The children’s ages ranged between nine and 15, mostly young boys.
Shannon admitted to making and possessing indecent images, and the judge placed him on the sex offenders register for ten years and banned him from working with children for life.
The Diocese of East Anglia expressed profound regret and said Shannon had served in parishes in Peterborough and Norfolk without prior complaints.
He voluntarily withdrew from all active ministry following his arrest in June last year.
