"You may not live to be released from prison," County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd said as he sentenced Pell. The man who rose higher in the Catholic church than any other Australian - to Papal adviser and Vatican treasurer - fronted the County Court in a fawn jacket and black open-necked shirt, minus his clerical collar. Exclusive photo. Handcuffed in the back of a prison van, Cardinal George Pell leaves the County Court after being jailed for six years on child sexual abuse charges. Credit:Jason South He needed a walking stick to leave the dock, before he was taken away in a prison van wearing handcuffs. A polarising figure at his highest, Pell's prison life will be spent in protection given his profile and crimes, and with the notoriety of being the most senior Catholic official formally jailed for child sex offences.

Judge Kidd, who allowed his 67-minute sentence to be broadcast live by media given its significance, found Pell acted with "staggering arrogance" in attacking two vulnerable 13-year-olds in a room in the cathedral after a Sunday mass in December 1996. Loading He said Pell acted on the assumption his authority as Archbishop of Melbourne meant he would get away with it. "You offended against two victims, despite the fact that the door was unlocked and despite the risk that either victim could have run from the room or later complained," Judge Kidd told Pell. "I think you did give thought or reflection to this offending and the only reasonable inference from the brazen circumstances of your offending is that you had a degree of confidence that the victims would not complain either immediately, by running out, or at some later stage ...

"You have shown no remorse or insight into your offending." Pell was last year found guilty of attacking both boys in 1996, and then assaulting one of the choirboys in early 1997 when he shoved the child into a wall in a cathedral hallway, again after Sunday mass, and squeezing the boy's genitals. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Judge Kidd acknowledged that Pell's advanced age, the stresses that accompany prison life, and ill-health - including cardiac and blood pressure problems, and osteoarthritis in both knees - brought a real possibility he could die in custody.

"Facing jail at your age, in these circumstances, must be an awful state of affairs for you," the judge said. Defence counsel Robert Richter, QC, who was jeered by sex abuse survivors and advocates outside court, said the cardinal would face his time in custody "like the man that he is". Loading One of Pell's supporters cried as he was led into custody, while sex abuse survivors and their supporters cheered outside on the street. Pell maintains his innocence and has appealed against the jury's verdict, with a hearing set for June 5. If the Court of Appeal finds the challenge successful it could quash the convictions and order a retrial.

It is for that reason the surviving choirboy, now a man in his 30s, could not draw comfort from Pell's sentence. Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: "It is hard for me to allow myself to feel the gravity of this moment," he said in a statement read by his lawyer Vivian Waller, as advocates gathered outside the court to mark the sentence. "It is hard for me, for the time being, to take comfort in this outcome. "I appreciate that the court has acknowledged what was inflicted upon me as a child. However, there is no rest for me."

Pell's other victim died in 2014 from an accidental heroin overdose. His father welcomed the jail term, although he said six years was insufficient, and had hoped for a decade. The father is considering suing Pell and the church over his son's death, which followed years of drug addiction that started soon after the abuse. "Listening to the judge in there was hard," the father said. Loading "I was angry inside. I felt like my son's life was wasted. Why was it wasted? For some guy's two minutes of pleasure. It's not easy to describe ... it's stuff that destroys families, it destroys people."

The father said he wanted to reconnect with his son's friend, to hug and thank him for contacting police in 2015 and giving evidence both as a victim and eyewitness to what he saw Pell do to his friend. "He was a fabulous little kid, he's a fabulous man now," he said. "He kept it in for a long time and that would have been hell for him. Absolute hell. But I'm really appreciative and thankful that he did come forward." Judge Kidd found Pell's attack on both boys was a brazen and forcible example of sexual violence, where he grabbed the first boy by the head and pulled him towards his penis, and then put his penis in the second boy's mouth. He ignored pleas for him to stop and told them to stop crying. The crimes carried an "added layer of degradation and humiliation", the judge said, because the boys witnessed each other's abuse. "At some point in the episode, you even told your victims to be quiet because they were crying."

The second attack had "a degree of physical aggression and venom" and showed Pell had not reflected on the trauma he caused to the boys weeks earlier. Judge Kidd rejected Mr Richter's submission the crimes were committed by Pell the man and not the then-archbishop, and instead found they were a remorseless and grave breach of trust and abuse of power. Pell's status at the time cast "a powerful shadow over the offending". "In my view, your conduct was permeated by staggering arrogance," he said. Loading "The brazenness of your conduct is indicative of your sense of power."

Judge Kidd acknowledged Pell had no prior or subsequent offending, dedicated his life to serving the church and endured extra punishment through the intense media focus on the case and his ruined reputation. The media focus on Pell's case was extraordinary, he said, and it was fair to say the cardinal is considered by some as "a publicly vilified figure". Judge Kidd slammed the "witch hunt" that had taken place since Pell was convicted, adding that he "utterly condemns such behaviour". "The court stands as a bulwark against such irresponsible behaviour," he said. Upon delivering his sentence, the judge asked Pell to sign the sex offenders register. Pell did so quietly with the assistance of the judge's associate.