A SENIOR clergyman will go before a church court later this year to face 22 charges of misconduct.

John Methuen, Dean of Ripon, in North Yorkshire, was suspended from his duties in September after formal complaints about his behaviour were laid before the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Reverend John Packer.

The allegations have been investigated and it has been found there is a case to answer.

Dean Methuen faces one charge of serious, persistent or continuous neglect of duty and 21 charges of conduct unbecoming the office and work of a clerk in holy orders.

Bishop Packer announced the decision yesterday in a statement read out to the congregation of Ripon Cathedral.

He said: "Following my last statement of September 19, 2004, an independent examiner has considered the formal complaints against the Dean, the Very Reverend John Methuen, laid before me under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963.

"The examiner has decided that there is a case for the dean to answer on all 22 formal complaints. A consistory court to determine these charges is likely to be convened later this year. The dean is clear that he has a full answer to the complaints. The dean will remain inhibited from the exercise of his office and I ask you to continue to pray for him and his family."

A consistory court is a rarely convened church tribunal. If found guilty, a cleric can be admonished, removed from office or even deposed from holy orders.

When the complaints were made last September, Dean Methuen said: "I have committed no offence, ecclesiastical or otherwise, and will strenuously defend myself within the proceedings."

A dispute surrounding the dean's management style emerged in 2001 and was followed by the resignations of chapter clerk Howard Crawshaw, bursar Nigel Clay and Kerry Beaumont, organist and master of the choristers. Mr Beaumont's replacement, Simon Morley, also resigned.