Higginbottom was jailed for 18 years (Image: Daily Mirror)

A former Catholic priest, who was convicted of sexually abusing two teenage boys, died in hospital while serving his sentence, according to a recent report. Michael Higginbottom was found guilty on five counts of serious sexual assault and seven counts of indecent assault, leading to his imprisonment for 18 years in July 2019.

The victims were abused by him while boarding at St Joseph's College, a now-closed Catholic seminary in Upholland , near Skelmersdale , during the 1970s and 80s.

Higginbottom , who taught at the seminary, was convicted after a retrial. A court heard he 'carried out a series of violent sexual assaults' and used a strap or a belt to hit the boys.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), which inve

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