A CHRISTCHURCH vicar found by a tribunal to have 'dishonestly retained £26,000 of funeral fees' has been banned for life from ministering in the Church of England.

Father Andrew Hawthorne, who says he is innocent, was sacked from the church after a series of disagreements with the Diocese of Winchester.

The former minister of St George's Church was dismissed by the Diocese last year after being put on gardening leave in 2011.

He was then officially suspended over what, he says, are false claims of financial irregularities relating to funeral fees the church says he should not have kept.

A police investigation into the allegations concluded in 2013 with no further action taken.

Mr Hawthorne was recently found by a clergy discipline tribunal to have been “dishonest in retaining a very significant sum in funeral fees he was not entitled to keep as the money belonged to other charitable bodies.”

He claims he had a verbal agreement with former Priory priest, Reverend Canon Hugh Williams to keep the fees, but this was dismissed by Reverend Williams in a statement to the tribunal.

A penalty hearing statement said Mr Hawthorne had allegedly referred to the hearing as a 'farce'.

The tribunal found “on a balance of probabilities that he has no remorse and that there is little, if any, likelihood of his repenting of what he has done.”

The Venerable Dr Peter Rouch, Archdeacon of Bournemouth added: ”Andrew Hawthorne dishonestly deprived two charities, the Diocese of Winchester and the Parochial Church Council, of funeral fees that were rightly theirs - and the tribunal chaired by a judge of the English courts decided that this action was knowing and deliberate.

“The Tribunal has issued the strongest penalty available to it: Andrew Hawthorne can never again minister in the name of the Church, use or accept the title Reverend in any context, or represent himself as an ordained or authorised person.

“Andrew Hawthorne's dishonest actions will be a matter of great distress to many people - individuals, families, churches and communities. The tribunal system exists to address those rare occasions where something is amiss. This is what it has done”.

Reverend Hawthorne said he totally rejects the allegations in the “strongest possible terms” and will be launching an appeal.

Labelling the tribunal 'unfair' over a refusal to hear his evidence, he said police had investigated and found nothing.

He said the “real issues” behind his treatment by the Diocese were Chancel Repair Liability and his opposition to an increase in St George's subs to the parish.

On the penalty hearing, Reverend Hawthorne, who has converted to Catholicism, said his sacking by the Bishop of Winchester a year ago meant the penalty was “purely hypothetical”.