A Church of England vicar who stripped down to his underwear to carry out a baptism before travelling to Liverpool has been sacked.
Reverend Clive Evans carried out the baptism in his underwear before travelling to Liverpool for a holiday with his wife.
A Church of England tribunal ruled his misconduct was serious and banned him from holding office for six months.
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The Diocese of Herefordshire "apologised unreservedly" to those affected by his behaviour while he was the vicar of Bromyard and Stoke Lacy in Herefordshire.
A full report has now been published by the Church of England describing how Rev Evans was filmed carrying out the baptism in front of a 'shocked family'.
Rev Evans told the panel the baptism was not convenient for him because he was due to go on a holiday with his wife.
After finishing his breakfast he attended the house on April 18 2017 and performed a full immersion baptism in a bath, while wearing only his boxer shorts.
He claimed he stripped down to his boxer shorts because he did not want to get wet.
Recalling the incident, one family member said: "Clive then started to remove his shirt which I thought was fair enough seeing as he didn't want to get it wet.
"However when he started taking his shorts off I was shocked and thought to myself why is he undressing completely in front of my mother, my sister and I."
The report found that: "Although we accept that the family did not indicate unhappiness about his state of undress, and indeed only Person 2 has expressed reservations about it, the Panel has concluded that no agreement was reached with the family to his taking off his clothes leaving only his boxer shorts.
"The panel considers that underwear is intimate apparel. It is qualitatively different to, and has different associations from, other forms of clothing, or even of swimwear.
"As such, there is a loss of dignity by stripping down to underwear in the circumstances in which it occurred which is inherently inappropriate and unbecoming."
Two incidents of touching without consent were also considered by the panel, the first incident happened when a child was climbing out of Mr Evans' car in February 2018. He is said to have touched the child on the bottom.
The second, the tribunal panel said, "more likely than not" took place as Mr Evans hugged someone after a church service in March 2019. He was found to have touched the woman on the bottom with a 'double pat.'
Rev Evans was initially suspended from all duties in April 2019, before he was sacked from roles at St Peter's Church in Bromyard and nearby St Peter and St Paul's Church in Stoke Lacy.
A spokesperson for the Church of England released a statement on March 4 when the findings were first published.
A spokesperson said: "A Church of England Tribunal has published its findings today [Friday 4 March 2022] into The Revd Clive Evans, Vicar of St Peter's, Bromyard. It found that his conduct was unbecoming to the office of a clergy person.
"We commend the bravery of those who brought these allegations forward and acknowledge how difficult this would have been. We apologise unreservedly to them for what has happened and for what they have experienced.
"As a diocese, we take the safety and wellbeing of everyone very seriously and have robust safeguarding procedures in place."
The Bishop of Hereford, The Rt Revd Richard Jackson, said: "The behaviour of Revd Evans is completely unacceptable, and we will be keeping all those affected by this case in our prayers.
"Clergy are in a privileged position of leadership. Their congregations and the wider community hold them in trust. The professional guidelines to which they are bound make clear that this is a trust that they must not abuse.
"The behaviour and actions of Revd Evans are in no way reflective of acceptable church practice.
"We fully support the findings of the tribunal and the decision to apply the penalty to remove him from office, which takes immediate effect."
"We recognise that there will be many individuals left feeling very hurt by this lengthy process, including the congregation at St Peter's Bromyard.
"We intend to work in partnership with the church community and seek healing and reconciliation for all the individuals affected. My prayer is that through the unfailing grace of God, we can find peace and a way forward in our faith."
"Anyone with any concerns relating to this case, or any other safeguarding matter is encouraged to get in touch directly with one of our safeguarding advisers who will offer confidential support and advice – or to speak with someone else they trust."
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