A RETIRED priest, Timothy Biles, within the diocese of Salisbury, has been jailed for six years after being found guilty of indecent assault. The charges date to the Sixties, when he was a PE teacher and chaplain at a college in Dorset.
On 12 December, at Bournemouth Crown Court, Mr Biles, 89, of Sherborne, was found guilty of 5 offences of indecent assault of boys as young as 11. He was sentenced on Tuesday of last week.
The offences got here to light when one victim contacted the police in 2018. A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said that Mr Biles, who denied the costs, had “exploited his position inside the clergy within the worst possible way”.
He was ordained priest in 1966, and, after a brief curacy in Ripon diocese, became Chaplain of St Francis School, Hooke, near Beaminster, in Dorset. In 1972, he moved to the primary of a series of parochial appointments within the diocese of Salisbury. He retired in 2000.
In a press release on Mr Biles’s sentencing, the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Stephen Lake, said that the “appalling abuse” had “rightly resulted in a big custodial sentence today. I need to thank the victims and survivors for his or her bravery in coming forward. I hope and pray the decision and today’s sentence offers a chance to start to heal from the trauma they’ve suffered.”
Mr Biles was appointed MBE for services to the Church of England 4 years ago (News, 12 October 2020). The Bishop said that steps were being taken to recommend its revocation of the MBE, although this decision was out of the Church’s hands; and he had acted to remove the award of the title of Canon Emeritus. Mr Biles’s permission to officiate (PTO) was withdrawn in 2022 when the diocese was made aware of the police investigation. The parish where he worshipped and infrequently assisted at services was informed.
On Monday of last week, the Team Rector within the Beaminster Area Team Ministry, Canon David Baldwin, said that Mr Biles, having not informed him that his PTO had been withdrawn, had, on a small variety of occasions, been involved in services in Beaminster. The Church Times understands that this involvement amounted to leading prayers at funerals, and didn’t involve robing or leading a service.
