Vicar dies in jail just weeks after being sentenced for abusing boys

A FORMER vicar has died just weeks after being jailed for sexually abusing boys and young men.

The Rev Canon Terence Grigg, 84, from Norton in North Yorkshire, was sentenced to 12 years earlier this month after a jury at Hull Crown Court found him guilty of 14 sex offences between the mid-1980s and early 1990s.

Yesterday the Prison Service confirmed that Grigg – a former minister at St Mary’s Church in Cottingham, near Hull – died on Sunday. No details were available about the cause but a Prison Service spokesman said: “As with all deaths in custody there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”

In a statement, the Diocese of York said: “As we learned of the death of Terence Grigg we remain concerned for all those he abused and deceived, for whom this news may stir up strong feelings.

“The Church constantly reviews the safeguarding procedures and policies now in place to make it a safer place for everyone.

“We continue to hold those hurt by Terence Grigg in our prayers and offer them whatever support we can into the future.”

Speaking after Grigg’s sentencing on August 9, Humberside Police’s Det Supt Matthew Hutchinson said he had carried out “degrading offences against vulnerable children”.

During the trial jurors heard the ex-clergyman had “identified” his victims, who were all vulnerable “in some way” and had used “that vulnerability for his own sexual gratification”.

The court heard he stayed in a hotel room with one boy while on a trip to London and had taken him to a gay bar.