The head of the Cumbria Tourist Board has told how she was "engulfed" by her local parish priest as he tried to kiss her passionately.

Chris Collier, chief executive of the board, told an ecclesiastical tribunal on Thursday how the Reverend Harry Brown forced her head back and forced his tongue in her mouth as he greeted her at her home.

Mr Brown was sacked from his post as priest-in-charge of Crosscrake and Preston Patrick, near Kendal in September 2001 after allegations of sexual harassment, intimidating behaviour and financial irregularities.

The 49-year-old Church of England clergyman is appealing against his removal.

Christine Collier: Pushed Mr Brown away

The resumed hearing, chaired by the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, was told Mr Brown had arrived at Mrs Collier's house to congratulate her on appointment as chief executive in July 1996.

Mrs Collier, awarded an OBE in last year's Queen's jubilee honours, described how Mr Brown greeted her with his arms outstretched.

She said: "One moment his arms were outstretched, the next moment he was towering over me.

'Kissed me'

"I felt engulfed by him. He was kissing me quite passionately."

Asked by Geoffrey Tattersall QC, counsel for the Bishop of Carlisle, if she expected this, she replied: "No, not at all.

"I had been married about 20 years. No one, other than my husband, had kissed me in that way.

"I was shocked, I was quite stunned."

She told the hearing in York how Mr Brown's unwelcome advances continued in her home.

'Quite passionate'

She added: "He put his arms around me and started to kiss me.

"This time I had my wits about me. I immediately pushed him away and asked him to leave."

An initial hearing was told how relations broke down between Mr Brown and a number of his parishioners soon after he arrived in the early 1990s.

It could be two months before the archbishop of York publishes his decision.