Pervert Leeds monk who harboured fantasies for boys found guilty of historic sex abuse at Ampleforth College

Michael James Callaghan, known to pupils as Father James, was a housemaster at Ampleforth College in the 1990s when he targeted the vulnerable teenager who was “miles from home”.

He also targeted another pupils years later.

Denying all charges, he stood trial at Teesside Crown Court where a jury convicted him of 13 offences after a six-day trial.

The 71-year-old, who lives in Moortown, will be sentenced on June 19 and the judge warned him that custody was likely. He was bailed until then.

Judge Richard Clews warned him: “These are very serious offences involving a considerable breach of trust in your responsibility as a priest and a school master.

“Therefore, it’s highly likely the only realistic sentence will be immediate imprisonment.”

During the trial it was heard that Callaghan kissed the victim on multiple occasions, grabbed him by his bottom, made him sit astride him to simulate sex, made him rub his penis and even made the boy bite Callaghan’s penis through his clothing.

He also said he forced him to simulate mouth-to-mouth on multiple occasions while pretending to have a heart attack.

The boy was not in the same house as Callaghan but said he would groom him by taking him on outings in his car, on shopping trips in York and for pub lunches.

Having eventually plucked up the courage to tell police, the victim gave a video interview in which he said: “I was in a really bad place, going through hell at school 200 miles-plus from my nearest family. I hated the sexual bit of it. If possible, I would just avoid it.”

Callaghan, of Kingsway Court, Harrogate Road, denied he was attracted to the boy but then said there was an “element of attraction” once the boy was in the private school’s sixth-form.

Admitting to the jury he was bisexual, he admitted the boy rubbed Callaghan’s penis over his clothes and would take part in bizarre role play, pretending to be a boy in the school that was attracted to the victim.

Callaghan maintained the “sexual element” to their relationship only occurred when the boy was over 16 and consented. He said he admitted kissing the boy on his face prior to then because he wanted to comfort him after being bullied.

He also denied the mouth-to-mouth allegations, along with the biting of his penis through his clothes.

But a doctor’s letter produced by the prosecution dating back to 1990 confirmed that Callaghan confessed, during an appointment, that he was having homsexual fantasises about boys.

The jury found Callaghan guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault on the first boy, and a further offence of sexual touching of a boy in 2013, whom he had touched on the bottom after a meeting.

Of the 13 counts, 12 were of a unanimous verdict with one by a majority. The jury had deliberated for over six-and-a-half hours.