Bail extended for former Brighton priest facing child sex abuse claims

A priest who worked in Brighton and Hove and faces child sex abuse claims has had his police bail extended.

Father Wilkie Denford, 77, was arrested in November, questioned by Sussex Police and released on bail until yesterday (Thursday 1 March).

He was arrested along with a 68-year-old church organist from the Lewes area.

Mr Denford, a semi-retired Church of England minister who lives in Lewes, having moved there from Shoreham, must now report back to police on Tuesday 8 May.

He and the organist are accused of sexually abusing two boys at a number of locations in West Sussex in 1988.

At the time Mr Denford was the vicar of St John the Evangelist in Burgess Hill.

Earlier Mr Denford worked in Brighton and, since retiring as a parish priest, he has officiated and preached at numerous churches in Brighton and Hove.

The Diocese of Chichester suspended both men after they were arrested and said that it was co-operating with the official investigation.