Harassed vicar pledges to get on with job (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Harassed vicar of St John the Baptist Church, in Hampton Wick, pledges to get on with job

7:30am Sunday 5th February 2012 in News By Paul Teed

A church vicar who was the victim of a harassment campaign has reassured his congregation that the ordeal will not distract him from his job.

Reverend Graham Singh, of St John the Baptist Church, in Hampton Wick, said Jesus taught people to “turn the other cheek” but also to seek justice.

The clergyman reported Iain Burgess, 74, to the police after the retired science teacher distributed insulting letters about him around the village.

Burgess, of Cedars Road, Hampton Wick, described the Canadian-born vicar as a “creeping Jesus” and accused him of turning the church into a “mission hall” for drug addicts and alcoholics.

Mr Singh said: “Jesus teaches us to turn the other cheek, as well as how to stand up to bullies and seek justice.

“This illegal activity has not distracted me from my principal aim as a priest in the Church of England, which is to offer the love and life of God to those of every possible background.”

Burgess was found guilty at Richmond Magistrates’ Court in October last year of harassment and was banned, by a restraining order, from going within 100 yards of St John the Baptist Church or Mr Singh´s home, in Broom Road, Teddington.