Former priest jailed over abuse

A former Kent priest has been jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to five charges of gross indecency and indecent assault against teenage boys.

Malcolm McLennan, 64, of Quedgeley, Gloucestershire, a former priest at St Augustine's Church in Tunbridge Wells, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court.

He was given 18 months for each count, to run concurrently.

Kent Police charged McLennan last March following an investigation into alleged child sex abuse between 1985 and 1986.

At an earlier hearing, he admitted three counts of gross indecency with a boy under 16 years of age and two counts of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 14.

He has been ordered to attend a sex offenders treatment programme and will be placed on the sex offenders register.