How did Cof E fail to stop rapist pastor who preyed on girls online?
THE Church of england was in the dock last night after a trainee vicar was convicted of raping vulnerable young Christians.
It faced a backlash from victims of Oxford-educated Timothy Storey, 35, who was found guilty yesterday of three counts of rape and one of sexual assault in a retrial at Woolwich Crown Court.
The children’s pastor, who had been sponsored to join the clergy by the Bishop of london, used Facebook to groom girls.
victims attacked the Church for failing to protect them from the self-confessed ‘sex addict’ – described as ‘every parent’s worst nightmare’ – despite warnings.
Scotland Yard was called in over rape allegations only after Storey appeared on the front page of the Daily Mail in May 2014 for grooming underage girls for sex.
last night a senior police source said: ‘We believe that there may well be a string of other victims out there who might be too scared to come forward because they thought he was untouchable.’ Storey raped
‘It was like he was untouchable’
and sexually assaulted a girl aged 17, who later said he had been ‘ more influential than God to her’. He also raped a 16-yearold twice in his digs at Oxford, where he was training to become a vicar, after plying her with alcohol.
Clergymen face a barrage of questions about their conduct during the scandal, which was first reported in 2008.
Storey was found guilty of eight charges in 2014 in relation to grooming girls as young as 12, ordering them to film themselves naked over Facebook.
But he was given only a rehabilitation order – and within hours went online to find new victims. He is suspected of raping a 20-year- old he contacted on the dating app Tinder days after his sentencing.
The Attorney General increased his sentence to three years behind bars after outrage from MPs and charities.
even though he has now been found guilty of more serious crimes, no one has been disciplined at the Church.
Rev Hugh valentine – responsible for protecting children during Storey’s reign of terror – has been given a plum job at a South london charity.
Speaking after the verdicts, a woman groomed by Storey said the Church had given him ‘free rein’. She said: ‘If they had simply listened when the girls first spoke out, a lot of this could have been avoided.
‘It was like he was untouchable. No one wanted to hear how this handsome, articulate future leader was a sex monster.’
Storey had been based at St Michael’s Church, in Belgravia, london, and was a leader at Crusader summer camps in Kent. vicars were so impressed by his leadership and apparent devotion that they pressed him to join their ranks.
In reality, he was driven by an insatiable lust for girls whom he ruthlessly groomed.
The first complaint was made in June 2008, when an 18-yearold said he had sent her lewd texts. Storey was confronted, but no further action was taken.
In autumn that year a safeguarding officer at the diocese was allegedly contacted by a parent, and in February 2009 a woman told a youth leader that Storey had had sex with her.
In April 2009, a victim and her father confronted clergy over explicit texts. That August, statements from four women about Storey’s behaviour at camps were given to the diocese.
By September 2009, the Bishop of london, Richard Chartres, was told by senior clergy that Storey had been acting in a ‘predatory’ manner. The following January he apologised to one of the victims.
A diocese spokesman said: ‘The Diocese of london first received complaints regarding Timothy Storey’s conduct in early 2009.
‘The diocese… looked into the allegations and spoke with the Metropolitan Police… raising concerns that his actions were an offence. [Although] police did not believe any criminal act had been committed, the diocese nevertheless took the decision to withdraw him from ordination training.’