webofevil | It's what he does (Reply)

When the Bishop of Southwark announced that he thought he had been mugged but couldn’t be sure as he couldn’t remember the incident, my first thought was: the right reverend Prelate has done a Spacey. But what happened is actually far more entertaining than that, the only consolation for the bishop being that it’s slightly less likely to fuel speculation about his sex life.

Evening Standard: A Church of England bishop is facing an uncertain future after an extraordinary drinking binge, during which he was accused of clambering into a stranger’s car. The Right Reverend Tom Butler, the Bishop of Southwark, was said to have thrown children's toys out of the Mercedes before staggering off into the night.

He also faced claims that he apparently misled hundreds of worshippers during a sermon the following day by claiming he had been mugged. Scotland Yard confirmed that they received no such allegation from the Bishop.

The astonishing incident began when the 66-year-old Bishop attended a Christmas reception at the Irish Embassy in Central London on Tuesday night, where guests included MI5 head Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller; Sir Hugh Orde, the head of the Northern Ireland police service; and former Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble. The married father of two... was seen drinking several glasses of Portuguese wine from the complimentary bar at the embassy in Grosvenor Place.

One guest said: “He was clearly enjoying himself and grew very animated as the evening wore on. He was wearing his dog collar and cassock but was still insisting on telling everyone that he was the Bishop of Southwark.”

The Bishop spent more than two hours at the party before leaving to go home by public transport. But, at 9.30pm, the Bishop ended up three miles away in Crucifix Lane, a largely-deserted one-way street bordering railway lines near London Bridge station.

BBC: Paul Sumpter was playing pool in a bar [nearby] when he heard his car alarm sound. “I rushed out there and I saw an old looking guy with his legs hanging out the back of my car,” said the property developer. “My baby’s toys were in the back seat and I could see him chucking them all about the place.”

After being “dragged” away, the man initially revealed himself as the Bishop of Woolwich before falling on the pavement and knocking his head which left him unconscious for about five minutes. Mr Sumpter called an ambulance but the man left the scene before emergency crews arrived.

It was only days later that Mr Sumpter’s wife discovered a briefcase belonging to Mr Butler, containing, among other things, emails from the MoD and a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Evening Standard: The next morning one of the Bishop’s aides contacted police to report several missing items, but at a service in All Saints Church in Dulwich that evening, the Bishop told the congregation he had been mugged.

Worshipper Alison Hardy, 45, said: “He didn’t have his mitre on and he said he’d been mugged the previous evening. He said his head was too swollen for him to wear his mitre. He had a black eye and a big lump on his forehead.”

A spokeswoman for the Bishop insisted he told the congregation he had “apparently” been robbed. She confirmed he had been drinking at the Irish Embassy but declined to comment when asked if the Bishop had been drunk.

I think my favourite part is when he’s caught acting like an arse and instinctively tries to pass himself off as a whole other bishop.

So that's it. No connection with Kevin Spacey’s odd incident at all. I suppose it was daft to have thought there might have been in the first place; after all, where would the two even have met?