Yorkshire vicar Terence Grigg guilty of child sex abuse

Terence Grigg was formerly a vicar at a church in Cottingham, East Yorkshire

A former vicar has been found guilty of sexually abusing four "vulnerable" boys and young men between 1983 and 1996.

The Reverend Canon Terence Grigg, 84, of Norton, North Yorkshire, was a minister at St Mary's Church in Cottingham, East Yorkshire.

He denied 15 sex offences including indecent assault and two serious sexual assaults, but was convicted of 14 charges at Hull Crown Court.

However Grigg was cleared of one indecent assault charge.

• Former vicar's alleged victims 'vulnerable'

• Vicar 'unaware he took boy to a gay bar'

During the three-week trial, jurors heard the ex-clergyman had "identified" the victims who were all vulnerable "in some way" and had used "that vulnerability for his own sexual gratification".

The court heard he stayed in a hotel room with one boy while on a trip to London and had taken him to visit a gay bar, with Grigg claiming he did not realise what it was at the time.

Some of the alleged assaults, which took place in a variety of locations, were carried out when one of the victims was 10 years old, the jury heard.

Another victim kept a coded diary that recorded the alleged abuse he suffered from the age of 14, the prosecution claimed.

'Abuse of trust'

In a statement, the Diocese of York and The Bishop of Hull, the Rt Revd Alison White, apologised to the victims and offered support.

They said: "Our first concern today is for the damage done through the actions of Terence Grigg to his victims and survivors and those they love.

"We offer to all of them an unreserved apology for the harm he did and for his abuse of the trust they placed in him.

"It's taken many years of suffering and great courage for those who have come forward to help to secure his convictions. "

The diocese said the church was "committed to improving its policies and procedures", adding that new safeguarding measures had been put in place and were "under constant review".

Grigg is due to be sentenced on Thursday.