A former bishop has been jailed for historic child abuse.
Anthony Pierce, the former bishop of Swansea and Brecon, was jailed for four years and one month on Wednesday.
He had previously pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault on a male child under the age of 16.
Swansea Crown Court heard the abuse took place when Pierce was working as a vicar in the city, several years before he became the bishop of the Swansea and Brecon diocese in 1999.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 14 years old at the time.
‘Let down and betrayed’
Sentencing, Judge Catherine Richards told the court the defendant “began to groom [the victim] in a manner that is sadly familiar to this court”.
“You progressed to sexual abuse in the ways described by the prosecution,” she said.
The judge went on to say that there would be people in the wider community who felt “let down and betrayed that a man in your position could behave in such a hypocritical way”.
She said the defendant had outlined the impact of the abuse upon him “eloquently and realistically” in his victim personal statement and that he had gone on “to have to deal with the devastating impact of your abuse”.
“There is only one person who should have shame for what took place, and that is you,” she added.
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