A clergyman has been attacked by a gang of youths after he confronted them in the garden of his vicarage.

The Reverend Paul Mothersdale, a former police sergeant, was attacked as he tried to help two teenage girls who were being threatened by the gang.

The incident happened on Saturday evening as Mr Mothersdale confronted the youths outside the vicarage in Middlesbrough.

About 15 teenagers crowded round the clergyman and began to hit him.

Drunk girls

Mr Mothersdale confonted the gang after hearing trouble in the garden of the vicarage at St Agnes' Church in Middlesbrough's Easterside estate.

He tried to escort two drunken girls away from the gang of boys after they said they had been threatened with violence.

Mr Mothersdale used to work for West Yorkshire Police in the tough Chapeltown and Seacroft areas of Leeds.

He told BBC News Online he and his wife had recovered from the ordeal.

Mr Mothersdale said: "I was a bit shaken at the time, but we are fine now.

Youth arrested

"A first they were just loitering, ringing the doorbell and that sort of thing, but then they came into the garden.

"There were a couple of girls there who were very distressed and I tried to get them away from the boys.

"I asked my wife to call the police on the mobile and tried to move them on but they started on me.

"It is just a case of protecting your face and hanging on for the cavalry to arrive."

Mr Mothersdale's wife, Jacky, said she stepped in to help her husband.

She said: "One of them had jumped on my husband's back.

"I grabbed him between the legs, twisted and squeezed.

"By the look on his face, he got a bigger shock than me."

A 16-year-old youth was arrested and released on bail pending further inquiries, said a Cleveland Police spokesman.