Victims Say Former Priest 'Deserve More Justice' After Two-Year Community Order

Warning: Some readers may find details of this story distressing.

A man who says he was abused by former priest Edward Phillips-Smith has criticised a recent two-year community order, saying survivors "deserve more justice" after the ex-cleric admitted further historic sexual assaults.

Phillips-Smith, 76, has admitted abusing four boys in total during his time working for Lichfield Diocese at St Peter's Collegiate School in Wolverhampton. The court heard he had previously been jailed for 32 months in January 2024 for offences against two other boys and that he has terminal cancer with a life expectancy of less than two years.

One of the victims, identified only as Will, was among two former St Peter's pupils whose testimony contributed to the earlier conviction. Will said the abuse left him with long-term psychological harm and described feeling as though he is serving "a life sentence" for what happened to him.

Victims Came Forward After Media Coverage

The most recent sentence related to assaults that reportedly took place in the offender's school accommodation and at his home in Brewood, Staffordshire. Police told the court that additional victims came forward only after media coverage of the 2024 trial.

The priest was banned for life by the Church of England earlier this year [BBC]

"He's lied all the way through. To say he's remorseful, it's just absolute rubbish... he's only remorseful because he got found out," Will said, calling the community order "lip service."

Will recounted being sexually assaulted during an overnight stay at the chaplain's house and described both his anger at Phillips-Smith's courtroom apologies and the personal toll the abuse has taken: "I'm half the person I could have been because of what he's done." He said speaking out helped him cope and that he had offered to be put in touch with other victims through police so they would know they are not alone.

Background And Institutional Response

Court descriptions portrayed Phillips-Smith as a tall, "cool and trendy" religious education teacher who ran after-school clubs, school trips and church camping excursions and who used his position and physical presence to intimidate pupils. He invited at least one boy back to his school accommodation to play with a Scalextric set before abusing him and ran activity holidays at his home where abuse also occurred.

Phillips-Smith was released on licence in May last year and now lives in Essex. The Church of England banned him for life in January. The Times reported he later worked at Edgarley Hall School (now Millfield Preparatory School) and at Papplewick School in the Oxford Diocese between 1993 and 2008.

In 2008 Lichfield Diocese received an allegation relating to his time in Wolverhampton. Oxford Diocese said it investigated historic concerns alongside police and that a past cases review (undertaken across Church of England dioceses between 2019 and 2022) flagged information that was shared with Lichfield Diocese and Staffordshire Police. Both Lichfield Diocese and Papplewick School said they co-operated with police and expressed sorrow for any harm caused. Papplewick's review found concerns raised during employment but concluded there was not enough evidence at the time to meet a criminal threshold; the school acknowledged this did not rule out the possibility that harm had occurred.

Thames Valley Police confirmed it had received a report from a former pupil alleging inappropriate behaviour but that, at the time, the information did not meet the threshold for a criminal investigation.

The sentencing has prompted renewed calls from survivors and advocates for greater accountability and for institutions to learn lessons from historic cases so that victims feel able to come forward and receive justice.