Ex-school chaplain jailed for sexually abusing two boys 40 years ago

Father Edward Phillips-Smith abused two boys while he was a chaplain at St Peter’s Collegiate School in Wolverhampton in the early 1980s.

Phillips-Smith, 73, was known as “Father Eddie” by the pupils, who used to “sit on his knee and he would tickle them”, Oxford Crown Court heard on Friday.

He sexually abused two boys on one date in the early 1980s at a house.

The defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent assault on a male and two counts of indecency with a child at a previous hearing.

Fern Russell, prosecuting, said: “He was known as Father Eddie, he was fun always with the children, who would sit on his knee.”

She said one victim described him as “very charming and funny and adored by all the children”.

Phillips-Smith was arrested on May 18 2023 and answered no comment to all questions.

One of the victims, who cannot legally be named, called him a “coward” in a statement read out in court.

He said: “He was the chaplain, religious education teacher and supposedly someone a pupil at the school should be able to trust and have a child’s best interests at heart.

“I’ve come to realise this was far from the case and it was only his interests that he cared about.

“I’ve spent 40 years trying to make excuses, pretending it doesn’t matter, that it will go away, but it never does.

“Did he ever consider the implications of his actions on us as his victims?

“He called himself Father but he’s no man of god. He is a coward, still refusing to answer for his actions.”

Lucy Tapper, defending, said: “It is right that Mr Edward Phillips-Smith has sought to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity and avoided a trial and further distress for [the victims].

“There is genuine remorse expressed by Mr Phillips-Smith, although he has difficulty recollecting the specifics. There has been no repetition.”

Phillips-Smith, of Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, was sentenced to 32 months in prison, given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.

Judge Ian Pringle KC said: “You were widely loved by the pupils of that school, you were funny, you were not as strict as some of the other masters and the boys loved being with you, because you made them laugh and they sat on your knee and you tickled them.”

The judge detailed the abuse and said: “That episode has never left [the victim], that never will, and you as a teacher were in a position of absolute trust with that young boy and you abused that trust.”

He added: “In my view the appropriate punishment for an offence of this nature can only be achieved by immediate custody.”