Porn charges

A FORMER vicar jailed for possessing thousands of child porn images was sent to prison for another 14 months yesterday after admitting a string of further sex offences.

Richard Hart, aged 61, of Beguildy, near Knighton, mid-Wales, admitted nine counts of sexually assaulting a schoolgirl just days before he was due to be released from prison.

The father-of-five and former priest in charge of four south Powys parishes “had a deep-seated and spurious interest in children”, Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard.

Hart also admitted one count of inciting a child to commit an act of gross indecency.

He was charged with the offences, relating to a prolonged period starting in April 2000, while in prison in March.

The court heard he was due to be released from prison on June 3 after serving part of a three-and-a-half-year jail term imposed in September 2008.