Former school chaplain on trial for indecent assault

THE Revd Gary Dobbie, a former chaplain of Christ’s Hospital, West Sussex, has been accused of assaulting a young boy at the school between 1986 and 1991. Mr Dobbie, 67, of Albi, France, denies the three charges of indecent assault. Hove Crown Court was told that Mr Dobbie was an “extravagant” chaplain, and that he offered the victim “Turkish cigarettes and good wine”, before molesting him. After leaving Christ’s Hospital in 2003, Mr Dobbie was a chaplain at Shrewsbury School until 2016.

Churches commit themselves to disinvestment

FIVE Church of England churches made disinvestment commitments this week, alongside three United Reformed Church (URC) churches and the URC Synod of Yorkshire, as part of Operation Noah’s Easter Declaration for Fossil Free Churches. The declaration states that the churches’ disinvestment is “to be a sign of hope, contributing to the flourishing of God’s creation, both now and for generations to come”. The five C of E churches are: All Hallows’, Leeds; St Hilda’s, Ashford; St John the Evangelist’s, Upper St Leonards; St Peter’s, Sutton Coldfield; and St Stephen with St Julian, St Albans.