Vicar who groped boy jailed for 18 months

An Anglican priest who once served in Tony Blair's constituency was jailed yesterday for 18 months for groping a 10-year-old boy in his vicarage.

The Rev George Glover, known to parishioners as Father Eddie, abused his trusted position and broke Church rules by being alone with the child, a judge told him.

The 44-year-old, who at a four-day hearing at Newcastle Crown Court in August denied the charge, was placed indefinitely on the Sex Offenders' Register and will undergo two-and-a-half years' close supervision on his release.

He had broken regulations about dealing with young people by being alone with the child at his St Chad's Vicarage in Bensham, Gateshead, despite a recent warning from the Bishop of Durham.

The court was told that Glover abused the child in April last year while his wife was out. The judge said that while the offence was not the most serious kind of indecent assault, it still had had a "serious impact" on his victim.

Glover left the Prime Minister's parish in Trimdon, Co Durham, in 1997, after a member of the congregation claimed he had sexual relations with her. He was cleared at an Ecclesiastical Court and resumed his career in Gateshead.

Michael Hodson, for the defence, said the priest maintained his denial and said his wife was standing by him.