Overview
- At Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on October 30, Father Sion Hughes Carew pleaded guilty and was fined £873, ordered to pay a £349 surcharge and £85 costs, and disqualified for two years with a possible six-month reduction via a course.
- Reports say he took Bishop of Lincoln Stephen Conway’s year-old Kia Sportage after an evening drinking at the bishop’s palace, hit a parked Skoda Octavia twice, then reversed into a garden wall near Lincoln Cathedral.
- The written-off Skoda belonged to 78-year-old Brian Meagher, partner of The Archers actress Heather Bell, and residents saw the vicar arrested at the scene.
- The Diocese of Lincoln says a formal disciplinary process is under way and notes the bishop did not know his car had been taken or give permission.
- Coverage notes renewed scrutiny of diocesan leadership because Bishop Conway was criticized in the Makin Review, while parishioners were reportedly told the vicar was ill as proceedings continue.