Ex-vicar jailed after evidence is ‘blinked’

A FORMER vicar has been jailed for four years for the sexual abuse of a choirboy – who made courtroom history by giving evidence using eye-tracking technology which turned his blinks into words.

Cyril Rowe, 78, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court after being convicted of three counts of indecent assault in the 1970s.

Victim Michael Kelsick died aged 47 of motor neurone disease, without hearing his abuser had been found guilty. He was the first in a UK court to give evidence using Eyegaze technology.

Judge Peter Johnson said: “Despite the ravages of that incurable illness, he was finally able to tell the court of what happened to him at your hands. He wanted to see justice done, but tragically that was not the case as he died shortly before an officer arrived to deliver the news.”