Surrey Police to review 'sex abuse' claims against former vicar
Former assistant curate at All Saints Church, Chiddingfold, arrested over indecent assault allegations.
Surrey Police have confirmed that they are reviewing a complaint of indecent assault against a former vicar. The complaint was made against a former assistant curate at All Saints Church in Chiddingfold, Surrey. The alleged incident is said to have taken place in the 1980s, when the victim was a teenager.
The former vicar, who has not been named, has been arrested and released on bail. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, has said that he is "deeply concerned" by the allegations. He has said that the church is taking the matter "very seriously" and is cooperating fully with the police investigation.
The arrest comes after a number of other allegations of sexual abuse have been made against clergy in the Church of England. In recent years, the church has been under increasing pressure to tackle the issue of sexual abuse. In 2016, the church published a report which found that there had been more than 3,000 allegations of sexual abuse made against clergy since the 1950s.
The church has since introduced a number of measures to try to prevent sexual abuse from happening in the future. These measures include:
- Requiring all clergy to undergo safeguarding training.
- Setting up a confidential helpline for people who have been abused.
- Appointing a safeguarding officer in every diocese.
The church has also apologized for the way it has handled allegations of sexual abuse in the past. In 2018, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said that the church had been "too slow to respond" to allegations of abuse and had "failed to listen" to victims.
The church is now committed to taking a more proactive approach to preventing sexual abuse from happening in the future. It is hoped that the measures that have been introduced will help to create a safer environment for everyone involved in the church.
