Wolverhampton sex abuse priest left victim with 'dark thoughts'

Will - not his real name - spoke to the BBC's Giles Latcham

A man sexually assaulted by a school priest in the 1980s said the abuse left him with "very dark thoughts".

Edward Phillips-Smith, 73, was jailed on Friday for the abuse of two of his former pupils from St Peter's Collegiate School, Wolverhampton.

Will, not his real name, described how the former chaplain and RE teacher would groom young pupils in a locked schoolroom behind net curtains.

"He was a bully," he said. "He would use his size... to try to intimidate."

Phillips-Smith, who later lived in a retirement complex on Hadleigh Road, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail at Oxford Crown Court.

He'd pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault on a male and two counts of indecency with a child.

On sentencing, Judge Pringle said the retired priest's actions had caused "mental anguish" over the decades since.

"It was just eating me up inside, just constantly, it's always on your mind," Will said.

"It's been very dark thoughts at times - that's why I had to face this as I couldn't go on."

Edward Phillips-Smith, 73, was jailed at Oxford Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to abusing two boys four decades ago

Will described how the clergyman, known as Father Eddie, taught RE and led prayers, also running after-school clubs where children played chess and darts.

At Easter and Christmas he would conduct services for pupils at St Peter's Collegiate Church in the city centre.

"He was well-respected," Will explained. "I was quite a shy kid... he was quite a jolly teacher who was a chaplain there so obviously quite welcoming."

Phillips-Smith had a chapel classroom with a private room behind it. On rainy days, he encouraged pupils to go his room to play, a process Will now sees as grooming.

'Completely inappropriate'

He recalled the chaplain would lock the door, saying he did not want too many visitors.

"He had net curtains over his window and it overlooked the quadrangle so it was very very private," Will said.

"[He was] very hands on - you'd sit on his knee, he'd tickle you. Looking back, [it was] completely inappropriate.

"He's about 6 ft 3 (1.9m), something like that... We did this play-fighting. He'd let you struggle to a degree and then he'd clamp on you, you couldn't move.

"He would definitely use his size and his height to try and intimidate."

Three Spires Trust, which now runs St Peter's Collegiate Academy, said it was sorry to hear of the historic case and its thoughts were with those involved.

In the early 1980s Phillips-Smith invited Will and another boy to stay overnight at his home in Brewood, Staffordshire, about eight miles from the school.

Will recalled bringing his bike and playing games.

One night, frightened by a storm, the children ended up in the chaplain's bedroom. He encouraged them to get into his bed, where he abused them.

On Will's return to school, the priest gave him the cold shoulder.

Aggressive and angry

"He wouldn't speak to me. He locked the door if I went to his room at play time. There were other children in there, he would lock the door so other people couldn't get in," he said

"He was never the same with me again, he was always aggressive and angry."

After a few years, the priest left the school. Will was traumatised, unable to process what happened for decades.

"Aspects of my personal life pretty much changed from there on in," he said. "I only told my wife a couple of years ago and I've been with her 25 years."

"I can't go to the toilet in public, because of what's happened... I really struggle because I don't feel safe if something's behind me."

He reported Phillips-Smith to police in February last year.

He said: "It's taken over my life for 40 years and I just thought, it's got to stop now."

Although employed by St Peter's school, the priest had a licence to minister in Lichfield diocese churches at the discretion of local vicars

Lichfield diocese said the retired priest's file was handed to police as soon as a past cases review, carried out between 2019 and 2022, identified several "red flags".

It confirmed Phillips-Smith moved on to three further posts in the south of England before retiring.

Lichfield diocese said it was usual practice in the 1980s for priests' personnel files to be sent on to new dioceses.

A diocesan spokesperson said the crimes showed "serious unacceptable behaviour for any priest" and that safeguarding processes had improved significantly.

Three Spires Trust, which runs St Peter's Collegiate School, now an academy, said it was sorry to hear of the case and its thoughts were with those involved.

But Will remains angry nobody at the school intervened at the time.

"[Staff] would have seen children coming and going into those rooms during breaktimes - anybody would have thought surely that's inappropriate, behind a net curtain with the door closed," he said.

Oxford Crown Court was told the former priest had expressed "genuine remorse" for his crimes

He hopes the outcome of the court case will help him move on and was "very pleased" with Phillips-Smith's custodial sentence.

"Now that's pretty satisfying - that he's getting some punishment for what's he's done," he said.