Former priest guilty of torturing and sexually abusing two schoolboys.

Former Church of England Priest Found Guilty of Torturing and Sexually Abusing Schoolboys

Jonathan Graves, 60, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, has been convicted of torturing and sexually abusing two schoolboys in the 1980s and 1990s. At the time of the offenses, he was the vicar at St Luke's Church in Stone Cross.

Graves was found guilty at Hove Crown Court of 12 offenses between 1987 and 1992. He will be sentenced on Monday.

The court heard that Graves restrained the boys, who were aged between 12 and 14, using belts and straps, and then beat them. He groomed the boys, plied them with alcohol, and tricked them into playing sadistic forfeit games.

Graves was cleared of five similar charges, including one offense of indecent assault on a 50-year-old woman in 2002, following a nine-day trial.

Graves was first arrested by police in 2005 following a single complaint. He was temporarily suspended from working in Sussex churches three years later.

Det Insp Jon Gross, of the Sussex Police Public Protection Command, said the past had "caught up" with Graves. "The evidence in this case has revealed how he used his position to select his victims and befriend them before callously abusing them for his own sexual gratification," he stated. "His crimes have had a lasting impact upon those he abused. The hurt caused by the sexual abuse itself has undoubtedly been compounded by the psychological scars of the abuser being a trusted and influential figure in each of the victims' lives."