CHURCH leaders were today trying to solve the riddle of how a Blackburn priest was linked with a man arrested in Romania on a child sex charge.

A 34-year-old Briton was being held by detectives after being accused of having sex with an under-age boy.

Media reports in Bucharest have suggested the arrested man, identified by police as John Michael Taylor, was an Anglican priest.

But the Church of England said the only priest registered by that name was a 67-year-old who was currently looking after his sick wife in Blackburn - and he has NO connection whatsoever with the arrested man.

The Bishop of Blackburn, the Right Rev Alan Chesters, told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph today: "I had a call from our people in London yesterday to say I had a very serious case on my hands but the whole thing is ridiculous. "Our John Michael Taylor has never been further than France, let alone Romania or the Philippines. He doesn't even know anyone who has gone to Romania.

"Mr Taylor is a retired priest from the cathedral and is a very distinguished man in his late 60s.

"He is currently travelling to a Blackpool hospital every day to visit his wife who has a heart condition and this is the last thing he needs.

"We have no idea how his name has been linked to this. It's either a case of mistaken identity or that this man is simply using Mr Taylor's name.

"It all sounds like a joke but it's a serious one."

The man was found with a 14-year-old boy by charity workers and police on Tuesday in an apartment near the city's Gara de Nord railway station.

A British Embassy spokesman in Bucharest said: "It appears the link is pure speculation and the man in question is not even from Lancashire. We have not yet established if he is a priest."

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