An attempt to bring back mass to a long-disused chapel took a bizarre twist last night when it was revealed that the man behind the move is a member of an obscure sect.

Council landlords have withdrawn permission for a religious service to be held in the tiny St Andrew's Church in Upleatham, near Saltburn, east Cleveland, after both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England cast doubt on the religious eligibility of ecclesiastical eccentric Philip-James French.

His plan to return religious services to St Andrew's tomorrow had been billed as the first catholic mass to be said at one of the smallest churches in England in 500 years.

A "saddened" Mr French, who calls himself Father French, said last night: "The last thing the Devil wants is for this mass to go ahead.

"Sadly, the Devil is using the Roman Catholic Church and the York diocese of the Church of England to get his way."

The self-confessed disaffected Roman Catholic is a member of the Holy Catholic Church, Western Rites - a breakaway movement from an American sect. He claims to be have been ordained by a bishop of his sect.

The Church Commissioners transferred St Andrews to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's ownership in 1987 when the church was declared redundant.

Mr French had told the council he was parish priest at the church of St Ninian in Whitby.

But a spokesman for the Right Reverend John Crowley, Bishop of Middlesbrough, said Mr French had never been a priest of the Roman Catholic Church and that St Ninian never had been a Roman Catholic church.

Mr French countered: "Roman Catholics have a problem with the word catholic. We are a community of Christians who come from all over."

David Walsh, Redcar and Cleveland council leader, said tomorrow's service had been postponed to allow the council to reconsider its position.