“Foot fetish” priest kept bag of children’s socks in house, court hears

A priest who is on trial for sexually abusing a young boy as part of a “foot fetish” admitted he had a “problem with feet” after the alleged victim found a bag of children’s socks in his house, the Royal Court has heard.

Piotr Antoni Glas (61) denies eight counts of committing acts of gross indecency, and two counts of indecent assault against a child – all of which the prosecution say were sexually motivated.

The complainant had previously described how Mr Glas would lie at their feet, his face against the child’s feet, and how they would hear what sounded like a man masturbating.

The priest was also accused of wrestling the child until their head was near the man’s erect penis, and of kissing the child twice on the mouth.

Using his position as a priest to gain trust

Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, described the alleged offences as “repeated historical abuse committed by a parish priest on a child over 20 years ago”.

She said: “The prosecution case is that the defendant, Piotr Glas, used his position as a Catholic priest to gain the trust of the complainant and [their] family in order to get [the child] alone.

“When he was alone with [the child] he would fulfil what the prosecution says is his particular sexual interest… a sexual fetish that you will hear involved feet.

“It is a sexual interest in feet that you will hear goes back years.”

The child was groomed for years, the court heard.

“He said he had a problem with feet”

Speaking in court, the alleged victim described how the priest had at first asked them to walk on his back under pretext of helping with his back problems.

After becoming more comfortable doing this, he had asked the child to walk on his front, and then to kick his face.

The offending stopped after the alleged victim confronted the priest about a bag of children’s socks they had found in his house, the court heard.

The complainant said that they felt “disgusted” by the bag of socks for reasons they didn’t understand at the time because they were a child.

“Something in my gut told me that there was something untoward about it,” they told the court.

“I didn’t have the framework to know why I felt it was disgusting, but it was in my gut that there was something very wrong about what I had discovered.”

The alleged victim described Mr Glas “pleading” with them to let him explain himself, and claimed that the socks were collected from the changing rooms of a secondary school in Southampton where he had worked as a priest.

Crown Advocate Carvalho asked: “Did he tell you why he collected the socks?”

The complainant replied: “He said he had a problem with feet and that that was something he’s struggled with for a long time.”

The alleged victim explained that the priest had taken them to throw the bag of socks away, but that the child had later returned to retrieve it as “proof” of the priest’s “inappropriate” behaviour.

“I never wanted it to be my word against his if I ever was to confront him,” the complainant said.

“I knew that he would have a lot more influence than I did.

“If I was to say something, that his behaviour was inappropriate, if I was to say that he had collected socks from minors from a local high school, I don’t know why anyone would believe me unless I had proof.”

A “crisis of conscience”

The alleged victim spoke about sharing concerns with their parents at the time, but that these were “quickly dismissed”.

The complainant said they only came to terms with what had happened years later.

In court, the individual described a “crisis of conscience” which led them to start disclosing the abuse – firstly to their father, and later to authorities.

“I needed to started taking some steps towards making sure that the defendant was no longer a threat to minors,” he said.

The complainant described how they had feared, both as a child and later on, that they would have no evidence and that the priest would have more support due to his prominence as a self-proclaimed exorcist.

Crown Advocate Carvalho said the alleged victim had confronted Mr Glas, who said his heart was “broken” – but tried to discourage the child from reporting the abuse to church authorities, saying he wanted to be buried as a priest.

The court also heard the first of two video calls in which the complainant confronted the priest.

During the call, the alleged victim quizzed Mr Glas about the bag of socks as well as other incidents between the two.

The priest explained that he had been beaten and kicked at the age of eight, which had provoked the foot fetish.

But he resisted encouragements from the alleged victim to seek professional help or speak to his bishop.

The trial continues today.