An 82 year old priest has been jailed for a year for sexually abusing an altar boy 30 years ago.

Fr. Patrick Hughes with a recent address at Park Drive Court, Castleknock in Dublin pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault.

Fr. Hughes abused the boy when he was aged between 11 and 14 at his home, on trips to the beach and in his car.

He would also take photographs of the victim in his swimwear and show him mild porn.

The priest later fled to England days before a Prime Time documentary on clerical abuse and gardai say they were given the run around by Church authorities in their bid to track him down.

It wasn’t until a tip-off in 2007 that gardai made face to face contact.

When confronted, the elderly priest replied ‘it was an altar boy thing’.

In a letter read out to the court today, Fr. Hughes apologised for his inappropriate behaviour.

‘I wandered off into the desert’ he said ‘which was a lonely place, now I feel I’m back’.

Judge Katherine Delahunt  jailed him for one year.