C. of E. clergyman fights doorstep passion claims

 LONDON
A WOMAN executive has told an ecclesiastical court how she instinctively made a cup of tea after her parish priest gave her a French kiss on her doorstep.
  Cumbria Tourist Board head Chris Collier said that in July 1996 she had seen the Rev. Harry Brown bounding towards her front door with his arms outstretched and assumed he was going to congratulate her on her new tourism job.
  "One moment he was standing there with his arms outstretched -- the next he was overpowering me," she said.
  "I felt I was being engulfed. He was kissing me quite passionately." Mr Brown, 49, is appealing to Archbishop of York David Hope against revocation of his church priest's licence.
  He denies allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation.
  Mrs Collier, 51, said that Mr Brown had forced her head back and had his tongue in her mouth.
  "It was not something I expected," she said.

"I had been married for about 20 years then. No man other than my husband had kissed me in that way."
  Mrs Collier said she pulled away and they moved into a sitting room in the house.
  She then did the "ordinary, polite thing" and made a cup of tea. Mr Brown joined her on a sofa and began to kiss her again. This time she asked him to leave.
  Mr Brown also is accused of pushing his leg against another woman parishioner and being over-familiar with others.
  Cross-examined by barrister Michael Johnston, Mrs Collier also rejected the claim that her account was the product of wishful thinking.
  Another parishioner, Cerys Morgan, said that at a New Year's Eve church dance Mr Brown put an elongated balloon between his legs and pretended it was a penis.
  He allegedly told her: "You look gorgeous. If only your husband wasn't here."
  The hearing continues. -- THE TELEGRAPH GROUP, LONDON