The Rev Canon David Tudor of Canvey, Essex is still suspended after four and a half years following a police investigation which was carried out into alleged sexual offences.
The Rev Canon David Tudor was arrested in April 2019 on suspicion of indecent assault, but the investigation was subsequently dropped in August 2022. Mr Tudor was suspended as rector of the Parish of Canvey in 2019 and remains suspended due to a Church of England investigation.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Chelmsford said:
“David Tudor remains suspended from his role as team rector of the Parish of Canvey while he continues to be subject to investigation under the Clergy Discipline Measure.”
“We continue to work closely with the relevant statutory authorities and our thoughts and prayers are with those affected.”
Mr Tudor unlikely to return to his role
Community leaders believe Mr Tudor is unlikely to return to his role. Mr Tudor has been rector of St Nicholas Church since 2006 and it was alleged the offence took place in the 1980s in Redbridge.
In 2006, the Basildon Canvey Southend Echo reported that Castle Point MP Bob Spink had previously called for the removal of David Tudor after learning Tudor had been jailed for six months in 1988 for indecently assaulting three girls who were aged 13 to 15 years old at the time of the offences.
Tudor served his prison sentence, but an appeal Court hearing quashed the convictions ruling them "unsafe and unsatisfactory". The convictions were overturned on appeal and Tudor was freed.
These allegations were made while David Tudor was chaplain at St Bede's School in Redhill, Surrey. He later became curate of St Philip's Church in Reigate. In a separate case Tudor admitted having sex with a girl but insisted she was 16.
Until he was suspended by the Bishop of Chelmsford in April 2019, Tudor was based at St Nicholas Church in the Anglican Parish Church of Canvey Island, where he was appointed as Rector of Canvey in 2006. In 2008 he was appointed area Dean of Hadleigh.