Former priest is jailed for 17 years for horrific sex abuse

ACATHOLIC priest who repeatedly raped a boy until he prayed for death has been jailed for 17 years.

Fr Michael Higginbottom, 74, revelled in “cruel, sadistic bullying” at St Joseph’s College, a seminary for prospective priests, in Up Holland.

He used a strap and cane on boys as punishment and said he could “make this as easy or as hard” as the victim wanted before sexually abusing them.

The priest and teacher told Liverpool Crown Court that he did not even remember the boy, who is now in his 50s, and denied eight sexual offences in the 1970s.

Defence lawyers for Higginbottom, of West Farm Road, Newcastle, suggested the man made up the allegations to try to get financial compensation.

But he was found guilty of committing the offences, which Judge Andrew Menary, QC, said would now all be charged as rape, after a five-day trial.

The victim – who stole a watch to get himself expelled so that the abuse would end – said the “evil” priest ruined his life.

In an emotional statement, he said: “I was subject to physical, sexual and mental abuse at his hands. My sexual abuse happened so often I became numb to what was happening.

“I cried so often I believed I could have drowned in my own tears. I used to pray to die.

“There are worse things than death – living with an evil man and being left alone at Up Holland.”

He said that his education, work and personal life all suffered, he fought anger issues, and struggled to show affection to his wife and children.

The man said he had always provided materially for his family, but added: “A daddy who cannot love is only half a daddy.”

Prosecutors said that Higginbottom breached the trust placed in him “in a spectacular and horrific way”, days after the boy joined the college, aged 12 or 13.

David Temkin, prosecuting, said the victim recalled the site as “a cold, dark and forbidding place” and a venue for “mental, physical and sexual abuse”.

The man eventually told a friend who encouraged him to report Higginbottom in 2013, when he told police: “I call that man evil because that is exactly what he was.”

Higginbottom described the allegations as “total lies” and Adam Birkby, defending, suggested the victim made them up to try to get civil compensation.

The man contacted solicitors after reading an article linking Higginbottom to a civil case involving another pupil, awarded £35,000 in an out-ofcourt settlement for alleged abuse.

But the victim told the jury: “No compensation was on my mind – justice was on my mind. I wanted that man to feel as scared as I did at Up Holland.”

Mr Birkby said that the man made allegations against two other priests, who have since died, and the harm he suffered could not be blamed entirely on his client.

He said Higginbottom lived a “positive life” as a parish priest for 40 years and would struggle in jail as he had Type 2 diabetes, a heart condition and was on medication after a series of ministrokes.

Judge Andrew Menary, QC, said Higginbottom had a “mean streak” and was responsible for “cruel, sadistic bullying”.

He said: “For a period of about six months in the late 1970s you made a young boy’s life a living hell.

“What you did to him there effectively destroyed the remainder of his childhood and did a good job of destroying any faith he ever had.

“Realistically, at least in his mind, who could he tell?

“He was in a Catholic seminary being abused by a Catholic priest, with parents who were devoted Catholics, who would scarcely believe such abuse was possible.”

Jailing him, Judge Menary also ordered Higginbottom to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life.