Paedophile was set free to rape young children in their homes

Police and church authorities are facing serious questions over how a married priest suspected of being a paedophile was set free to carry out a horrific series of sexual assaults involving hundreds of children across the country. Simon Thomas, 44, a minister at the United Reformed Church (URC) in Hythe, Hampshire, raped boys as young as 11 in their homes while their parents were out. An Observer investigation has established that most of the offences occurred after Hampshire police and church leaders had been warned of his activities, almost three years ago. It has also emerged that Thomas committed some of his worst offences while he was free on bail, following his arrest in July 2005. The police were alerted to his most recent child abuse last summer, after the mother of a 13-year-old found out that Thomas had been telling her son to perform sex acts to be watched via a webcam.

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