A “VOYEURISTIC” Catholic priest, who used to work at a church in Eastwood, has been jailed for three years for sexually abusing a vulnerable teenage boy at a children’s home.

Father Anthony McSweeney, 68, abused the boy while working at the Grafton Children’s Home in Hounslow, London, between 1979 and 1981.

McSweeney was also found guilty of making indecent images of children and was sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court, London.

The former Catholic priest at St Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, in Eastwood Road North, was rumbled by his cleaner, Julia Woodyatt, who found drawers full of child porn and sex toys at the church.

Ms Woodyatt tried to raise her concerns with the church at the time, but it ignored her.

However, the priest soon left the church without explanation.

Judge Alistair McCreath, sentencing McSweeney, said there was no evidence to suggest the priest had molested the child himself, but that he had encouraged it.

Judge McCreath said: “He has a voyeuristic interest in children, either in seeing them unclothed, or in seeing them sexually abused by others.

“I would certainly assess that Father McSweeney poses a high risk of serious harm to children.”