THE shame of a drink-driving priest has been revealed in court after he was found to be twice the limit as he drove back to his parish.

Father Ian Leslie Grieves, 62, was followed by an off-duty detective sergeant who was alarmed to see a vehicle repeatedly swerving onto the wrong side of the road and driving “erratically” on the A67, near Darlington.

The former Anglican vicar, who converted to Catholicism in 2012, managed to navigate his way back to the St Osmund’s Church Presbytery, in Gainford, Teesdale, where he was breathalysed and appeared to be “in a drunken state”.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday that Fr Grieves was deeply embarrassed over the incident on June 26 and he bowed his head as details of the case were read out.

Aimee Dodd, prosecuting, said: “It was shortly after 7.30pm at night when Detective Sergeant Martin Wilson was off-duty driving on the A67, near Gainford, where he was travelling behind Mr Grieves’ vehicle.

“DS Wilson observed the vehicle swerving onto the wrong side of the road and the opposite lane of traffic and he described the driving as ‘erratic’.

“On a few occasions, he actually sounded the horn in order to inform the defendant he was in the wrong lane and that made him return back to the right lane.

“He followed him to his home address and, in his view, the defendant was in a drunken state.”

Fr Grieves was taken to Bishop Auckland Police Station, where he provided a breath sample of 82 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

The 62-year-old pleaded guilty to a single charge of drink-driving, with his solicitor stating he deeply regrets getting behind the wheel of his Citroen C4 after drinking alcohol.

Michael Clarke, mitigating, said: “I don’t think it’s necessary for me to outline the embarrassment caused to Mr Grieves.

"Not only has he let himself down, but he’s let an awful lot of people down who look up to him and who will be affected by his appearance in court. He was ordained over 30 years ago.

“He currently lives in Gainford, and he’s responsible for that parish and Middleton-in-Teesdale as well.

“He appreciates he’ll be disqualified and that will have a considerable effect on his duties in the near future.”

Mr Clarke added: “He accepts his levels of pastoral care will be diminished considerably, but he’s instructed me that he will endeavour to fulfil his duties to the best of his ability.

“His parishioners are fully supportive of him and they will help him to get from A to B, but there will be times he won’t be able to carry out his duties.

“For instance, he’ll be unable to attend an emergency in the middle of the night.”

Magistrates heard that Fr Grieves was a man of previous good character, however he was disqualified from driving for 20 months with the ban effective immediately.

He was also fined £305 and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a £30 victim surcharge.

His solicitor added: “He accepts he’s made a crass error of judgement and he deeply regrets this and he apologises for it.”

The Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, which oversees St Osmund’s Church in Gainford, declined to comment on Fr Grieves’ case.

He was originally ordained as vicar at The Parish Church of St James the Great, off Barton Street, Darlington, where he spent nearly a quarter of a century before leaving in 2012, along with more than 50 members of the congregation.

He then moved to be ordained as a priest at St Anne’s Catholic Church, off Welbeck Avene, Darlington, in May that year.

He took up his new appointment at St Osmund’s – an 1850s Gothic revival church – in October 2012.

The 62-year-old made it his priority to establish a daily mass at the church and advocated a “house-going priest with church-going people”, making at least one home visit a day when he took up the position.

At the end of the ten-minute hearing yesterday morning, Fr Grieves was offered a drink-drive rehabilitation course.