Sex abuse vicar betrayed flock

Sex abuse vicar betrayed flock

Davies abused the boys in his vicarage and on parish trips

As the most senior vicar in Cardiff, Canon Lawrence Davies was respected by both his parishioners and his church.

But for 25 years he betrayed that trust by using his power as a cleric to indulge his passion for boys as young as 12.

Almost from the moment he became the vicar of St Paul's, Grangetown, he started to prey on two youngsters whose religious faith drew them to a man who, years later, they still described as "charismatic".

That charisma allowed him to escape suspicion for a quarter of a century as he presented the image of a dedicated, hard-working cleric - and swore his impressionable young victims to a life of secrecy.

Guilty

The jury at Cardiff Crown Court took just four hours to find Canon Davies guilty of seven counts of sexual abuse.

They also found him guilty of five cases of serious sexual assault.

The 62-year-old, had moved to Briton Ferry when he was suspended by the church.

Yet it was only when the Church in Wales promoted Davies to the position of canon - in recognition for the youth work he had done - that his past began to catch up with him.

You become nothing, you become an empty shell - you become a puppet

One of Davies' victims

One of his victims - horrified at the public recognition bestowed on Davies - summoned up the courage to go to the police.

That man, who had gone on to become an Anglican priest, had needed counselling to come to terms with what had happened to him.

The man wept as he explained to the court how the first assault took place in the church vestry when he was aged 12.

Vicarage

The cleric went on to abuse the boy in the vicarage and on parish trips.

Davies swore his victims to secrecy after abusing them

When the youth eventually went on to college, Davies turned his attentions to another boy in the parish.

Such was his confidence that he would show his victims pornographic films and even took one of them to Soho where he once spent £50 on a sex video.

The second man said he was forced to commit sex acts on the cleric and was left feeling like "a puppet" as a result of the abuse which only ceased when, later, he found a girlfriend.

The man said: "It was not voluntary because of the years Davies had been grooming me.

"These people grind you down and they make you feel worthless and of no value whatsoever," he said.

"You become nothing, you become an empty shell - you become a puppet".

This victim, who also became a priest, told the court he "just froze and went numb and cold" when Davies made his advances.

Davies was cleared - on the instruction of Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones QC - of one charge of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy.