Western Morning News
August 26, 2009
http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/news/Priest-60-accused-sex-attacks-girls/article-1284197-detail/article.html
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| Canon James Andrew Wilson will appear before magistrates next month |
A PARISH priest in a Westcountry riverside village has been charged with indecent assault over alleged incidents involving six girls under the age of 13.
Canon James Andrew Wilson, 60, was last night released on police bail after being questioned over alleged sexual offences said to stretch back more than 30 years.
At Plymouth's Charles Cross police station, Mr Wilson, priest at St Andrew's Church in Calstock, South East Cornwall, was charged with six offences of indecency with girls under the age of 13.
The allegations date back to 1977 and 1978, years before Mr Wilson was ordained into the Church of England in 1982.
The charges follow a lengthy police investigation into the alleged offences which are said to have taken place in the Pennycross area of Plymouth.
Mr Wilson was released on police bail and is to appear before magistrates in Plymouth on September 16.
Last night, the Diocese of Truro said that Mr Wilson would not be taking church services in Cornwall until the investigation had been completed and residents in Calstock expressed their "complete surprise" at the nature of the allegations.
The allegations have already sent shockwaves around Calstock, a village perched on the edge of the Tamar River with a population of just over 6,000, as Mr Wilson is said to be a well-respected member of the community.
Mr Wilson has been a priest in Cornwall since 1992, and before that in Devon. He is married and has a son. As a canon, he is a senior clergyman in a group of parishes. He lives at the vicarage of St Andrew, the only church in Calstock, which sits beneath the village's iconic viaduct.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Truro said the allegations related to events years before coming to the village: "The alleged incidents occurred at a time before he was ordained as a priest.
"He will not be exercising any further ministry until a time when the police investigation – with which, of course the diocese is co-operating fully – is complete."
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