Man abused by Sussex priests 'passed around like a toy'

Ifor Whittaker was previously known as Colin Pritchard

A man sexually abused for five years by two Church of England priests says he was "like a toy being lent to a mate".

The man, who is now in his 40s, was repeatedly raped as a child by Ifor Whittaker, formerly Colin Pritchard, who was last week jailed for 16 years.

The 73-year-old conspired with ex-clergyman Roy Cotton to commit sex acts with him from the age of 10 onwards.

The man, who wants to remain anonymous, told BBC South East Today: "What was expected of me was just awful."

Following a trial at Hove Crown Court, Whittaker, of Rectory Road, Sutton, south London, was convicted of seven counts, which also included gross indecency and inciting the boy to commit gross indecency.

The former rector of Sedlescombe, near Battle, East Sussex, was already a registered sex offender for life after he was convicted in 2008 for sexually abusing two other boys, and jailed for five years.

Roy Cotton died in 2006 without ever being brought to justice

Cotton also worked for the Diocese of Chichester despite being convicted of a sexual offence against a boy in 1954, and it is said he went on to abuse at least 10 boys.

He died in 2006 without ever being brought to justice.

The victim was abused by both men during the 1980s and 1990s.

He told BBC South East's Special Correspondent Colin Campbell: "It was just awful.

"To live full of fear, to then have to go through physical, excruciating pain, and then the mental pain afterwards, and then try and go home and be part of a happy, loving family."