Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Vicar 'Sues God' over Campaign of Hate

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A vicar who moved to an “idyllic” rural parish claims that locals subjected him and his family to a four-year-reign of intimidation and terror.

Reverend Mark Sharpe, 44, claims parishioners slashed his tyres, smeared excrement over the family car, strewed broken glass over his drive and even poisoned his pet dog.

Rev Sharpe said he and his wife Sara, 43, were forced to install CCTV cameras at the rectory to protect themselves and their four children after their post was tampered with and internet and phone connections were cut.

Eventually they moved away and yesterday Rev Sharpe began a claim of constructive dismissal against the Church of England.

The vicar, who was ordained in 2001, initially moved to the rural Teme Valley South Ministry in Worcestershire in January 2005, after resigning his previous job as a Navy chaplain.

He had left that post after claiming he was ''continually'' exposed to violent hardcore pornography and won an employment tribunal against the Ministry of Defence for sexual harassment in 2006. » | Nick Britten | Tuesday, November 22, 2011