St William's Catholic care home child sex abusers jailed

James Carragher, 75, and Anthony McCallen, 69, were convicted of a string of sexual offences in December

A former chaplain and ex-principal of a Roman Catholic children's care home have been jailed for abusing boys.

Anthony McCallen and James Carragher were convicted of a total of 35 sex offences against 11 boys between 1970 and 1991 at the former St William's Children's Home in East Yorkshire.

McCallen, 69, was jailed for 15 years and Carragher, 75, for nine years.

Leeds Crown Court heard it was the third time former head Carragher had been jailed for offences at the home.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said: "Each of you targeted some of the most vulnerable boys. You groomed them and abused them for your own sexual gratification.

"The victims were effectively trapped and there was no escape from you.

"They were confused, frightened and in turmoil.

"It has blighted their lives and each of you had contributed significantly to their misery."

He said the 11 victims suffered "severe long-term, continuing psychological harm as a result of what you did".

'Deeply engrained sexual interest'

In court, the judge said he had taken into account Carragher's previous convictions for offences he committed at the now defunct home - the first time in 1993 when he was jailed for seven years and then in 2004 when he was given a 14 year sentence.

He told Carragher he had to take into account the sentence he would have passed if he had heard all the evidence from all three trials and said this would have led him to a sentence of 30 years in prison, from which he deducted the 21 years Carragher had already served.

St Williams Children's Home was run by the De La Salle Brothers, a Christian order of lay teachers

The jury heard how former chaplain McCallen had also been convicted before, of abusing two boys in the 1990s when he was found in possession of indecent photographs of boys, some of which he took through spy-holes as they showered and used the toilet.

Judge Marson said: "Each of you has a long standing, deeply engrained sexual interest in teenage boys.

"It's an interest, I have no doubt, that continues to persist."

Both will be required to serve half their sentences before they can be considered for release on licence.

During a 10-week trial at Leeds Crown Court, the pair denied 87 sex offences against children at the home, which closed in 1992.

Carragher, of Cearns Road, Merseyside, was found guilty of 21 indecent assaults and three serious sex offences, but was cleared of a further 30 charges.

McCallen, of Whernside Crescent, Ingleby Barwick, Stockton-on-Tees, was convicted of 11 charges, including a serious sexual offence. He was acquitted of eight others.

The jury was unable to reach verdicts on 13 charges and was discharged by the judge.

St William's, in Market Weighton, was owned by the Diocese of Middlesbrough and run by members of the De La Salle Brotherhood.

The diocese previously said it had condemned child abuse and McCallen's behaviour while he was a priest was a betrayal of the trust that was placed in him from the Diocese of Middlesbrough.