Love- cheat vicar’s ban
A MARRIED ex- vicar has been banned from preaching after an affair with a parishioner. Martin Baldock, 68, admitted to a “close and personal relationship with a person not his spouse” and failing to protect a vulnerable adult. Mr Baldock, who was the popular Vicar of St Edward the Confessor in Dringhouses, York, from 2000 to 2017, also lost the honorary title of Canon of York. The Bishop of Selby, the Rt Revd Dr John Thomson, said: “The Church of England expects the very highest standards.” Mr Baldock retired to Newark, Notts, in 2017 at 65 but the probe began in 2019. Parishioners were unaware of his preaching ban until last Friday when the news was broken by the current vicar.