Ex-priest receives second lifetime ban for child sexual abuse

Ex-Church of England priest David Tudor has received a second lifetime ban from ministry after a tribunal found he groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old girl in Surrey in the 1980s.

It is the second time he has been convicted by a church tribunal of sexual abuse.

The first ban was in October 2024 after he admitted sexually abusing two girls between 1982 and 1989.

Now the tribunal is publishing its reasons and punishment after it found the former priest guilty of misconduct last November.

Tudor's misconduct was "egregious and of the utmost seriousness" showing a "deliberate and damaging failure to comply with the high standards of Christian behaviour", the Southwark Bishops' Disciplinary Tribunal found.

In a unanimous decision, the panel of five said it was "satisfied that it is more likely than not that the Respondent (David Tudor) had sexual intercourse" with a girl identified as "Z" when she was 15.

The ruling outlined how Z had attended St Bede's school in Redhill in the 1980s where Tudor was chaplain and an RE teacher. She also went to his church and the youth club he ran from the parsonage where he lived in Reigate.

"She was looking for a father figure to speak to and confide in and from whom to get guidance," the tribunal said.

Instead, the tribunal found that between April and September 1984, the priest - who was then 29 and had been in ministry for six years - groomed and sexually assaulted Z on multiple occasions when she was 15.

"This was not an opportunistic single event but a course of sexual misconduct in the context of grooming over a six-month period," the tribunal found.

Z told the tribunal that when she confided in friends, they persuaded her to speak to the then Area Bishop of Croydon Wilfred Wood, and that he told her that Tudor "was getting help with his behaviour".

She believed that because she told the Bishop, he would "sort it out".

The judgement shows the police only became involved in early 1987 following a report to them by Z's parents.

Tudor was subsequently charged and put on trial in 1988. He admitted having sex with Z when she was 16, but denied it had happened when she was 15.

He was acquitted of the allegation that he had sexual intercourse with Z when she was under 16. But the following year, the Bishop of Southwark suspended him for five years following a finding of misconduct.

We revealed how Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, then Bishop of Chelmsford, allowed Tudor, whom he described as a "Rolls Royce priest", to remain in post as a vicar under him for nine years - despite knowing about his history of sexual misconduct.

Tudor, who refused to attend this latest hearing, had claimed the victim was being untruthful to claim compensation, and claimed her complaint "was being used as a stick to beat the church."

This was rejected by the tribunal panel which found Z "gave a clear, consistent and cogent account of these events" eloquently describing the effect that "being groomed and abused when she was so young has had upon her throughout her life."

In a victim impact statement, Z had explained this included an attempt to take her own life because of the "intense shame and guilt" she had felt.

Z told the tribunal she had assumed Tudor "would never be permitted to exercise a priestly ministry again and it came as a shock to find out in June 2023 that he had been exercising ministry in Canvey Island for many years."

The decision referred to "a particularly shocking aspect of events" being the hate mail delivered to Z's home after the criminal trial in the 1980s, forcing the family to move house.

It added that Z had lost her Christian faith because of Tudor's abuse. According to the tribunal, this was "a serious and grievous consequence particularly because this has happened through the misconduct of a priest."

Following this latest penalty decision, Bishop of Southwark, Rt Rev Christopher Chessun said: "It takes extraordinary courage to speak out and bring forward a complaint, and so I am grateful to the woman who shared her experience of David Tudor's harmful actions, and I apologise unreservedly for the pain and trauma he has caused.

"We are continuing to support and work with Independent Reviewers who are undertaking a Safeguarding Practice Review jointly commissioned by the National Safeguarding Team, and the dioceses of Chelmsford and Southwark."