THE Bishop of Carlisle told the appeal hearing that he felt the complaints from parishioners of Crosscrake church had never been fully investigated, despite having been known about for some years.

The Rt Rev Graham Dow, who has been bishop for just over two years, told the hearing in York that when a formal complaint was made about Mr Brown (pictured), and it became clear that there were people willing to give written testimony about the priest, it was necessary to summon him to a meeting.

"We were in a situation where there was going to be major exposure of the diocese and what was thought to be the incomplete handling of it for some years.

"There had never been a successful investigation of the complaints and we had never been in a position before where a number of people were prepared to make a written statement."

At the first meeting, the Bishop told Mr Brown he could offer his resignation, the Bishop could withdraw his licence on six months' notice or an investigation into the allegations could be carried out. Mr Brown immediately said he would not resign, and so a formal investigation was launched.

The Bishop said he looked for an alternative to revoking the licence: "I never wished to go down the road of revoking the licence. I hoped right up to the end of August (2001) that some other way might actually become apparent, which might take the complaints seriously but at the same time provide another way forward."

One of the things that caused him a lot of difficulty, the Bishop said, was that he had had so many letters of support for the priest from the two parishes.

Eventually the Bishop concluded there was a sufficient case of behaviour unbecoming in a priest in the allegations of sexual harassment.

Under cross-examination by Mr Brown's counsel Michael Johnson, the Bishop explained why, at a hearing in May, the priest was not given a list of specific allegations.

Bishop Graham said Mr Brown had seen the full statements of the complainants and had commented on them, although in most cases he had denied the allegations. The Bishop did not believe that the Canon or church law he had to follow required him to conduct more detailed investigations.

There was the opportunity for a detailed examination of the allegations at the appeal before the Archbishop, he said.

In his closing statement, Mr Johnson said there should have been a list of allegations set out early on to ensure the Bishop had given Mr Brown a fair hearing. "The hearing provides some valuable pointers as to how the church process might be amended to obviate the possibility that a miscarriage of justice might occur in the future," he said.

However, the Bishop of Carlisle's counsel, Geoffrey Tattersall QC, said Mr Brown had had access to all the 22 or so letters that detailed the allegations.

Recounting the allegations of sexual harassment, Mr Tattersall pointed to the fact that several of the meetings between Mr Brown and the women involved had come to an abrupt end. The women had given "very clear reasons" why this had happened.

Former Crosscrake churchwarden Bryan Hewertson told the hearing how the priest had shouted and sworn at him "quite regularly", and had treated him "with contempt".

The effect on him was that he was not able to sleep, and as a consequence he felt he was being "dragged down and down". Mr Hewertson said he would go home to his wife and go "over and over" what had happened. Eventually he left the church after attending for many years.

Mr Johnson suggested that there had been a breakdown in communication between Mr Brown and Mr Hewertson, and that if the priest had been "given his head", the priest's appointment would have been a huge success.

Midwife Audrey Hawkes told the hearing that after the funeral of a stillborn baby, which Mr Brown conducted, the priest had taken her by the hand and led her away from some people she was hoping to help. She felt other people would have taken this to mean she had a relationship with him she did not have. This had gone on for around six minutes, and she had looked at Mr Brown for reasons why he was holding her hand.

Mr Johnson suggested Mr Brown had been giving Mrs Hawkes moral support.

January 10, 2003 09:30