A CLERGYMAN has been charged with rape and indecent assault against teenage boys more than 20 years ago.

The Rev Neville Husband, 64, a minister in the United Reformed Church, is alleged to have committed the assaults while working on the catering staff at the former Medomsley Detention Centre near Consett in the late Seventies and early Eighties.

Mr Husband, of Shotley Bridge, near Consett, is accused of raping and indecently assaulting a teenage boy. He is also being charged with indecently assaulting two other teenage boys.

He was charged on Tuesday and was released on conditional bail to appear at Chester-le-Street magistrates next Tuesday.

The married minister has been suspended from his duties at two churches in Gateshead by the United Reformed Church.