The Church of England has been condemned for failing to act against a choirmaster jailed for abusing children in his care more than 17 years ago.

A complaint was made against Peter Halliday, 61, from Farnborough, Hampshire, in 1990. Rather than go to the police, church authorities told him to stay away from children and sacked him from the choir. But he continued to work as a volunteer with the Royal School of Church Music.

Halliday was yesterday sentenced to 2½ years in prison after pleading guilty at Winchester Crown Court to ten counts of indecent assault.

Judge Ian Pearson said that Halliday had systematically sexually abused the boys and that the offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence was appropriate. He banned Halliday, who is married, from working with children for life.

Halliday, who was ordered to pay £2,000 to each of his victims, was also put on the sex offenders register.

Jailing Halliday, Judge Pearson said: “You were in a position of trust and responsibility. These children would have looked up to you as their choirmaster. You repeatedly and systematically abused these boys and groomed them.”

Judge Pearson added that the Church’s decision not to tell the police had been “unfortunate, but procedures were different then”. He continued: “These young men are still badly affected by what you did.”

Ruth Bowskill, for the prosecution, told the court that Halliday indecently assaulted the boys during swimming lessons, at camps when they slept over and at his house.

Miss Bowskill said his victims described him as a “fierce man, bully and a revolting character”. She added that the charges he pleaded guilty to were samples and some of the victims had said they had been indecently assaulted up to 30 times. The first victim, who was aged about 11 or 12 at the time, said that he went on holiday with Halliday and his family.

The second victim said he was assaulted in a swimming pool during a church outing to Winchester; when Halliday sat beside his bed and assaulted him; and also in bed while at Halliday’s home.

The third victim also said he had been assaulted in the swimming pool 20 or 30 times.

Halliday was finally brought to justice when last year one of his victims saw a television programme about child abuse and went to the police.

Mark Rudall, spokesman for the Diocese of Guildford, said: “We are completely satisfied that what was done at the time was the way things happened in those days when child protection awareness was on the cusp of serious change. Church officers at every level acted in good faith in accordance with what they perceived to be in the best interests of child and family at that time.”

But leading experts in child protection condemned the Church for its “serious mishandling” of the case.

David Pearson, chief executive of the Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service, said: “It has been stated that the law was different back then. This is a compete red herring. It was well known even then that serious crimes against children had to be reported to the police. The Church had a clear responsibility to take action.

“Sadly, the fact is that those in charge at the time failed to act appropriately and take professional advice when it was readily available.” He said that his service’s child protection helpline began in the late 1980s.

“Had we been contacted by the church authorities then we would have had no hesitation in telling them to go straight to the police. Of course, there was also nothing to stop them from taking advice direct from police or social services at the time.”

He said it was also “misleading” of the Church to suggest that there was only one opportunity to act against Halliday.

“It appears that a number of others were subsequently placed at risk from a man who was known to have offended against children. This situation was seriously mishandled by the Church and the victims will best be helped now by those responsible making a full acknowledgement of these failings.”

The Rt Rev David Wilcox, then Bishop of Dorking, told the BBC there had been no cover-up. “Things were very different then. I think that we make the mistake of trying to read back what we now know,” he said.

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