Ifor Whittaker

Ifor Whittaker, 80, was sentenced at Hove Crown Court on 19 November 2024 after pleading guilty to charges of rape and gross indecency. The offences were committed against a young boy in the vestry of St John the Baptist Church in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, during the late 1990s.

Judge Gary Lucie imposed a life sentence with a minimum term of eight years for the rape offence, and a concurrent sentence of 6 years and 8 months for the offence of gross indecency. During the sentencing hearing, the judge noted the victim had been left in the defendant's care and continues to suffer long-term mental health impacts. The judge further remarked that Whittaker remains a danger to children.

Whittaker had previously been sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment in 2018 for separate child sexual abuse offences and to five years in 2008 for abuse committed in Northamptonshire between 1979 and 1983.