Monk faces jail after he admits assaulting boys

A monk has been warned he faces a prison sentence after admitting 20 counts of indecent assault on boys at a preparatory school which sends pupils to the country's leading Roman Catholic boarding college.

Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 71, a Benedictine monk at the Ampleforth monastic community in North Yorkshire, was a teacher at Gilling Castle Preparatory School. He was charged after a North Yorkshire Police inquiry into Ampleforth Abbey, which is attached to Ampleforth College.

Grant-Ferris admitted 20 counts of indecent assault on boys at Leeds Crown Court yesterday. The 15 complainants were all aged under 12 at the time and the offences happened between 1966 and 1975.

Judge Ian Dobkin said: "All offences involving children, whatever the circumstances, are serious and the high probability is prison will be considered."