AN INQUEST has been heard into the death of a disgraced former Roman Catholic priest.

Michael Feben, of Medina Avenue, Newport, was jailed in 2014 after pleading guilty to six offences of indecent assault in the 1960s and 1970s on three boys aged between ten and 15.

He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court, following 30 years of working as a priest in Bournemouth, and a stint in Windsor in the 1960s.

One of the offences was an indecent assault on a male, in 1966, at a residential address on the Isle Of Wight.

At the time of his sentencing, investigating officer, Detective Constable Francesca Worley of the Thames Valley Police Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: “Feben was a priest and aged in his twenties at the time of these offences and continued to offend for decades.

"This was a gross breach of his position of trust, as he took advantage of young boys who attended his parish.

“These victims are now men, who have waited a long time to see justice done for the abuse they suffered."

On release from prison, Feben was living at Medina Avenue. He had grown up in Newport and went to Sandown Grammar School.

Feben was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Rome on October 25, 1964, with his mother, brother and 20 parishioners from St Thomas of Canterbury Church in Newport completing the party.

He died after suffering a cardiac arrest at home on December 9, 2020, but a post mortem also found exposure to asbestos as a secondary cause of death.

An inquest was opened by Isle of Wight Coroner Caroline Sumeray in April, and was heard yesterday (Thursday).

The inquest heard that Feben had been exposed to asbestos at some point during his life, and although there was no evidence of mesothelioma, Mrs Sumeray concluded he had died from the effects of the exposure.