A pedophile Catholic priest’s vile messages to children are exposed – while he remains free in the community: ‘There’s no such thing as too young’

Less than a week before his pre-Christmas arrest, a former Catholic priest offered to be a sex guide for an undercover police officer posing online as a 14-year-old boy.

Guy Norman Hartcher, 79, was arrested on December 23, 2024, after attempting to solicit sex from three people claiming to be minors online.

One of these individuals was an undercover police officer who had been sending messages to the ex-priest via Telegram for weeks while posing as a teenager named Ben.

Police arrested Hartcher as he sat in his red Kia on Pendle Hill in Sydney’s west, believing he was about to meet the young victim.

Video shows sex crimes investigators handcuffing the retired priest outside a South Asian mini market.

The former Vincentian priest pleaded guilty in March to multiple charges of child abuse and attempting to solicit children for sex.

Agreed facts lodged in the NSW District Court on Monday detail the depravity of the 79-year-old’s online activities in 2024.

“There’s no such thing as too young,” he told a user he shared child abuse material with in November that year.

Guy Norman Hartcher, 79, pleaded guilty to a slew of charges of child abuse and attempting to solicit children for sex. He is pictured in his previous role as head priest of Gresford-Dungog parish in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in the early 2000s.

Guy Norman Hartcher, 79, (pictured leaving a Sydney court in 2025) to be sentenced in July

The retired priest sent text messages and photos to the undercover police (pictured is a mock-up of the text)

His online conversations with ‘Ben’ covered topics such as intercourse, masturbation and his own sexual experience.

“This is me, honey,” he said as he sent his photo to the undercover police.

“Much older, but interested in talking sexy and being your guide to sex as much as you want.”

Hartcher tried to get sex from two other users claiming to be teenage girls on the Zangi app by offering them Apple gift cards in exchange for images.

He told a user claiming to be 15 years old that he wanted to be her “dirty daddy” and discussed meeting up on Christmas Eve for sex.

“You’ll thank Dad on Tuesday, honey,” he said.

In chats with another person he thought was a 14-year-old girl, he used love heart and eggplant emojis.

The former priest asked how the girl had not yet been sexually abused by her uncle, father, teacher or the father of a classmate.

The retired priest was arrested by police two days before Christmas in December 2024

The former Catholic priest offered to be a sex guide for an undercover police officer posing as a 14-year-old boy

In another text exchange, Hartcher boasted that he could train young girls to become attached and ready for sex

During a conversation with another 14-year-old, he mentioned that he loved the “little girl stuffed animal” on her bed.

He also said he found her younger cousin attractive.

Hartcher shared explicit images and videos of child abuse, including AI-generated material, with six others via Telegram.

Many of these texts and images are too explicit to report and contain topics such as incest.

He boasted that he could train young girls to become attached and ready for sex, and told a user that he could share this knowledge.

“What I really need is a twelve year old,” he wrote.

“I had one that I raised and trained a few years ago, but when she left school I encouraged her to get a boyfriend.”

He also claimed that a naked teenage boy he raped in a locker room while on holiday in Fiji had screamed and tried to escape before settling down.

Hartcher remains free on bail and will be sentenced in July.

He was previously head priest of Gresford-Dungog parish in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in the early 2000s, but later retired.