NEIL CRAYDEN CAUGHT IN CAMBRIDGE, NORWICH, PLYMOUTH CHILD PORN SCANDAL

In a disturbing case that has sent shockwaves through multiple communities, Neil Crayden, a former priest with ties to Cambridge, Norwich, and Plymouth, has been implicated in serious allegations involving child pornography and indecent assault. The case first came to light in April 2003, revealing a troubling pattern of misconduct by the 47-year-old former clergyman.

Crayden’s criminal activities include downloading explicit images depicting child abuse from the internet, a revelation that has sparked widespread outrage. Despite his removal from his parish duties following an earlier incident of indecent assault on a 15-year-old boy, the extent of his misconduct has now come under scrutiny. Authorities uncovered that Crayden had paid for access to an American website distributing such illicit images, using his credit card, which ultimately led to his identification and arrest.

Crayden’s background includes serving as a chaplain at the University of East Anglia and holding positions at churches in Brandon and Haverhill, Suffolk. The parish priest of St Felix Catholic Church in Haverhill, Father Michael Teader, expressed his shock and distress, stating, “Myself and all our people are shocked and distressed by what has happened.” His role within the church extended beyond parish duties, as he was also an adviser on religious education for his diocese in East Anglia.

Despite the allegations and his cautioned indecent assault on a young parishioner in August 2001, Crayden remains an ordained priest and resides at a Roman Catholic rectory. His movements have included being relocated from Norwich to Plymouth, where he was not actively serving as a priest at the time of his arrest in December of the previous year. When police raided his residence on December 30, they found no computer but seized a floppy disk containing six images. These images, classified on a five-point scale, included two rated at level four, indicating they depicted children engaged in sexual acts with adults.

Crayden, of The Rectory, Hills Road, Cambridge, admitted to receiving child pornography from Landslide Productions based in Texas in 1999, along with six charges of possessing indecent images of children. Magistrates ordered him to participate in a sex offender’s rehabilitation program for three years and to pay costs amounting to £58. Magistrates’ chair, Carol Maden, emphasized the breach of trust involved, noting, “You were in a position of trust with vulnerable people around and you have a previous history of offences involving young males. However, there was no interaction with the subjects of these photographs and you did not distribute them, and you are seeking help from a psychotherapist.”

Prosecutor Nick Fryer explained that Crayden was identified through his credit card details after the FBI tipped off the UK’s National Crime Intelligence Service. During police interviews, Crayden admitted to obtaining the images from Landslide but was initially uncooperative about his motives, eventually confessing that he did it for his own sexual gratification.

Crayden’s criminal history includes a 1979 conviction for indecently assaulting a man over 16 and a 2001 caution for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy who was a parishioner. His defense lawyer stated that Crayden had deleted the images shortly after downloading them, but sophisticated computer software had recovered them. The lawyer also highlighted that Crayden had been removed from his parish after the 2001 caution and had taken steps to prevent further offending, including not owning a computer.

In a statement, Bishop Michael Evans of East Anglia condemned the actions, saying, “Any form of abuse of children, including child pornography, is something we can never tolerate as Christians and it is always sad when a priest is involved. Children are always damaged in some way by such abuse, and the charges brought against Neil Crayden will cause deep concern to many people in our diocese, especially in those places where he served as a priest.” The bishop assured that Crayden had cooperated fully with police and that his future within the church would be determined through ecclesiastical procedures. He concluded with an apology and a reaffirmation of the diocese’s commitment to safeguarding vulnerable individuals, emphasizing the importance of creating a safe and welcoming environment within the church community.