Paedophile ex-priest told man how to abuse kids
Northumbria PoliceA former priest with a history of child sex offences who told an undercover police officer how to abuse boys has been jailed for eight and a half years.
Timothy Gardner, 53, also showed a persistent "disregard" for a sexual harm prevention order by hiding his internet history and not registering user names, bank cards, emails and memory cards with police, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
He admitted encouraging or assisting the commission of a child sex offence and multiple breaches of orders.
Gardner was a close associate of Bishop Robert Byrne, who resigned from the Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle amid serious concerns over his handling of reports about the priest in December 2022.
Gardner was convicted of 11 offences of making indecent images of children in 2014, prosecutor Robin Turton said.
As a result, he had to register any names, aliases, bank accounts and addresses with police, the court heard.
He was later made subject to a sexual harm prevention order which demanded he make known to officers any devices capable of accessing the internet or storing digital images and not delete any search history or use browsers with a hidden function, such as Google's incognito mode.
In June 2022, Gardner used a profile called Family Doctor and the fake name Matt to make contact with an adult male, which was actually an undercover police officer, on Chatiw, the court heard
'Provided grooming advice'
As well as the unregistered names being a breach of his order, Gardner went on to discuss "how to abuse a child with penetrative sexual activity", Mr Turton said.
Judge Julie Clemitson said Gardner was posing as a doctor and "boasted" of having met other paedophiles in real life.
She said he went into graphic detail about how the man could molest and rape his foster sons, providing "advice and encouragement" and suggesting ways to groom them and "normalise sexual abuse".
He was arrested and questioned, making no comment, the court heard.
In 2023 Gardner, previously of Walker Road, Newcastle, and latterly of Medhurst Way in Littlemore, Oxford, "continued to disregard" his court orders, Mr Turton said.
He failed to disclose four bank cards, other online profiles he had created and two SD cards to police, the court heard.
He also told officers he had not used any incognito function on his phone or laptop, but, when told such activity could be revealed by an examination, admitted he had done so to look at "homosexual pornography", the court heard.
Mr Turton said he had been using such hidden functions for 14 months.
Judge Clemitson said Gardner had been assessed by probation services as posing a "high risk" of harm to children, adding he had an "air of intellectual superiority" and was "somewhat arrogant and deceitful".
She said he created fake personas and hid his internet use while his "persistent pattern of breaching orders" added to a "picture of deceit and purposeful deviancy".
The judge said Gardner was an "offender of particular concern" and would have to spend an extra year on licence after his release from prison.
Gardner was also made subject to notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order limiting his future contact with children and internet use for life.
A spokesman for the diocese said the church had "a zero-tolerance approach to abuse" and condemned "without reservation" Gardner's crimes.
He said Gardner was a former Dominican priest whose status had been revoked and who had never worked in the area, while the current Bishop Stephen Wright had never met him.
The spokesman said the diocese "fully accepts and agrees with the criticisms" made by a review of Bishop Byrne's actions around Gardner.
"The diocese is dedicated to the effective safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in its parishes and institutions and we treat any allegation of abuse extremely seriously," he said.