Wetwang sex abuse vicar David Fletcher loses appeal

A vicar who was jailed for sexually abusing a boy 30 years ago has failed to have his conviction overturned.

David Fletcher, 63, was jailed in March at Bradford Crown Court for assaulting the boy repeatedly at his smallholding in Queensbury in the late 1980s.

His lawyers argued his guilty verdicts were inconsistent with his acquittal on six other counts.

He was freed in October after his three-year sentence was cut to one by the Court of Appeal.

Fletcher, of Pulham Lane in Wetwang, East Yorkshire, had been working as a headteacher at a school in Bradford when the offences were committed in a goat pen.

The disgraced clergyman was convicted of two counts of indecent assault after a trial, but was found not guilty of six similar offences.

He was released immediately after he won an appeal to reduce his sentence because he had already spent time in prison.

His legal team claimed all the charges had to stand or fall together and his conviction on the two charges made no logical sense.

But Lord Justice Davis, sitting with Mr Justice Lavender and Sir Nicholas Blake, said: "Our ultimate conclusion is that, on the facts of this particular case, there is no inconsistency here such that the verdicts cannot stand and such that this court is required to interfere.

"The convictions are to be regarded as safe. That being so, we must dismiss this appeal against conviction."

Fletcher was ordained by the Church of England in 2001 but has not worked as a vicar since he was charged with the offences.