A church worker who sexually assaulted boys as young as seven has been jailed for 12 years, after a widow of one of his victims said he took his own life after revealing the abuse he suffered.

Choirmaster and church organist, Richard Owen, 71, began his jail sentence today after he was found guilty of assaulting 14 boys during sexually charged corporal punishment beatings.

Owen, from Hale near Altrincham, Greater Manchester, admitted 27 sexual assault charges between 1970 and 1998 on boys as young as seven.

The abuse lasted over a 28-year period, with one of his victims ending his own life in 2019 following years of trauma, keeping the abuse secret.

The victim was just eleven at the time and had decided to keep silent about his experience until 2019 when he confided in his wife.

Speaking at Chester Crown Court, his widow said that he had been so distressed in sharing his 'secret' that he could barely breath.

Just two weeks after disclosing the abuse he took his own life, aged 39.

Speaking at the two-day sentencing hearing, the victim's widow read out a statement on behalf of her dead husband.

It read: 'He took his own life just two weeks after confiding to me about the abuse he had suffered.

'He said it was a secret he had been carrying for 30 years and he was sobbing so much he was hardly able to breathe.'

She said the impact of Owen's crimes could be seen in the fact that her husband, who was a music teacher and head of a prep school in Berkshire, could not tell his own story.

She added: 'Because of this I am a widow, and two girls aged eight and six have lost their dad.

'They cannot understand why they no longer have their dad, but all their friends do.

'He was a talented singer and music teacher who had made it his life mission to help children overcome their own difficulties.'

One of Owen's victims, a 39-year-old headteacher in Berkshire, killed himself two weeks after revealing the abuse he received to his wife

The victim had become a safeguarding officer for his school, a role which his wife said he took 'very seriously, protecting children in a way he had not been protected himself.'

She continued: 'He wasn't going to let history repeat itself.

'Whilst the coping mechanisms by which he had hidden his past trauma began to fail, Owen's crimes will neither define his life or death as justice is served.

'We trust that we will now be able to find some closure and allow us to be free of the shadow that these crimes have caused for so long.'

Earlier the court heard Owen, who was born Franklin Stanowski, preyed on youngsters whilst organist and choirmaster at various churches in Cheshire and Greater Manchester.

He would smack and cane the children in his car, a church vestry and on a camping trip to Wales.

He groomed the choristers by plying them with sweets, scratch cards, cigarettes, alcohol and money.

One victim told how Owen would tell him: 'It's that time' before spanking him whilst repeating the words: 'naughty boy!'

The court heard how Owen would use smack or cane the boys sometimes naked and sometimes clothed for sexual pleasure.

In 1983, Owen was charged under his birthname, following a complaint about him smacking two boys while working as a school truancy officer.

He was later put on probation before receiving a job at a different church where he changed his name by deed poll to Owen.

Prosecutor Maria Masselis said: 'The defendant systematically abused his position of trust as organist and choirmaster during those years at various churches around Cheshire.

'During those times he himself was aged between 18 and 44.

'The abuse encompassed a variety of activities whereby the defendant would isolate children, threaten or bribe them to allow him to smack or cane their buttocks, sometimes clothed, sometimes naked and deriving overt sexual pleasure.

'There were 14 victims, and the circumstances involved a most appalling breach of trust towards the children and their parents.'

The headmaster had first encountered Owen when he was seven after joining the choir at St John's Church in Altrincham in 1987.

Through his position at the church, Owen had been enlisted to teach music at a local CofE primary school and he abused the boy during a school camping trip in Abergele, Wales.

The prosecutor added: 'The defendant was obsessed with this particular complainant and the victim made disclosures to his family, including his wife, about being repeatedly spanked when he was aged between 11 and 14.

'Sadly, he took his own life two weeks later. One of the other victims said he tolerated the spanking because he enjoyed the social side of the choir, but he did not regard it at the time as sexual.

'Another described the extreme reaction of the defendant on the occasion they decided to leave the choir as young teenagers, likening it to a divorce.

'He said the defendant made the boys feel guilty as if they were betraying him by their decision to leave the choir.

'That victim was particularly affected by the death, saying he felt a degree of responsibility and that he had failed him.'

Owen left St Johns in 1998 when a new vicar took over and asked him to leave.

He later took up a position working at schools and churches in the Caribbean.

Police began investigating him in 2020 after a safeguarding officer of Chester Diocese carried out an internal review and came across previous allegations made about Owen.

He was quizzed on eight different occasions during which he admitted the abuse saying he felt 'shame and remorse.'

Miss Masselis said: 'He said that he would give the impression that he was in a settled heterosexual relationship, and he accepted he made a dishonest application for work in the Caribbean.

'He had gone there because corporal punishment was accepted.'

In a statement another victim who was abused 40 years ago said: 'I have suffered long-term psychological and emotional damage.

'The stress of keeping it hidden for all these years has ultimately taken its toll.

'It has affected my ability to have meaningful relationships. I feel worthless and view myself as permanently scarred.'

In mitigation for Owen who took an overdose on the day of his arrest, defence counsel Richard Gurney said: 'He has expressed and continues to express shame and remorse.

'In his letter he speaks in compelling terms about his recollections and feelings. Nothing I say is intended to minimise the impact of the offences - however, I urge caution as to whether his offending caused the victim to take his life.'

Sentencing Owen, Judge Michael Leeming told him: 'You persistently and systematically abused children in your care and in places for prayer, reflection and contemplation.

'What you did represents a gross breach of trust which had been placed in you by the boys and their parents, because of your position as a choirmaster. You were prepared to abuse that trust for your own sexual gratification and the effects of that are still being felt now.

'One victim committed suicide, leaving a wife and children after he had disclosed the abuse only two weeks earlier. His wife disclosed how her much loved husband had opened a Pandora's Box of memories and how much it affected him.

'You have offered an apology to the victims and their families and have expressed self-loathing but I only hope that you are genuine because your offending has caused too much hurt to too many people.'

Owen was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which expires in April 2030 was ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders' Register indefinitely.

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