A Church of England disciplinary panel has rebuked a priest who was three times over the drink-driving limit when he crashed a bishop’s car into another vehicle in Lincoln last year.

Rev Sion Hughes-Carew was three times over the drink-driving limit when he crashed into a car last October. 

The vicar from Lincoln, who was in charge at All Saints and St Mary le Wigford had reportedly been socialising at the Bishops’ Palace before the crash. 

The incident happened on a Friday evening at around 11pm, and he was arrested at the scene near Lincoln Cathedral. 

Hughes-Carew, who was 40 years old at the time, pleaded guilty to drink driving and was fined £873. At Lincoln magistrates’ court, he was also ordered to pay £434 in court fees and was banned from driving for two years. 

Brian Meagher, 78, owned the car that Hughes-Carew drove into. Meagher is the partner of the actress Heather Bell, who played Clarrie Grundy on the radio soap opera, The Archers. 

In January, a Church of England panel found Rev Hughes-Carew engaged in “conduct unbecoming and inappropriate to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders”. 

According to the Daily Mail, he was let off with a “rebuke and injunction”. 

A church spokesperson revealed that Hughes-Carew remains a vicar, but that he has stepped away from his role at All Saints Church and St Mary Le Wigford.  

Rev Hughes-Carew told parishioners that he was “deeply sorry” and said: 

“Many of you will know that, in the months leading up to that evening, I had been under a great deal of stress and struggling with depression. 

“While that does not in any way excuse my actions; it does form part of the context within which they occurred."