Church mentor is jailed for abuse

A former postman who mentored children at a Mormon church has been given a seven-year jail term after he was found guilty of rape and abuse.

Martyn Conway, 48, had denied the eight counts of sexual abuse on one boy and the indecent assault of another boy.

Cambridge Crown Court heard how Conway, from the city, had carried out one assault in the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints in Cambridge.

He was found guilty of all charges and added to the sex offenders register.

Jurors heard how Conway molested one boy over several years in the 1980s, once in the church, and had hidden behind a facade to molest the child during camping trips and visits to the seaside.

'Prolonged campaign'

The victim had gone on to suffer mental health problems and attempted suicide.

The court was told how married Conway, who had delivered mail in Cambridge for 20 years, was planning to emigrate to Utah, in the United States, home of the Mormon Church.

Judge Anthony Bate said Conway had also breached the code of the his faith, which does not tolerate homosexual activity.

"You were driven by some compulsion to throw aside the strict Mormon code by which you professed to live," he said.

"It was a prolonged campaign of sexual abuse.

"Your good name has now gone, your disgrace is complete."

The Royal Mail said Conway resigned his postman's job before the trial.