Vicar ‘groped sleeping student under blanket after downing wine’ on flight

A vicar reportedly groped a sleeping passenger during a transatlantic flight on a British Airways flight, jurors have heard.

Reverend Peter McConnell is accused of touching a 23-year-old American PhD student under a blanket on an overnight from Philadelphia to Heathrow in March 2017 after making ‘sleazy comments’.

The 64-year-old clergyman, who was vicar at St Helen’s Church, in Longhorsley, Northumberland, is accused of drinking up to ten small bottles of wine, asking the victim if he had been to ‘titty bars’, questioning whether the student was ‘mischievous’ and talking about masturbation.

It is claimed McConnell talked about God and asked his victim for forgiveness after the sex assault.

The vicar, who had been in the USA to visit his sister after she suffered a serious illness, denies one charge of sexual assault and is being tried by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court.

Prosecutor Andrew Espley told jurors the vicar had been ‘drinking heavily’ during the flight and had moved to a seat right beside the student as a child kept kicking the back of his own.

The court heard McConnell, who was travelling with his godson, tried to engage the stranger in conversation, which the student found ‘odd’.

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Mr Espley added: ‘Mr McConnell said his godson had got really drunk in South Carolina and had been to a titty bar.

‘He asked the complainant if he had ever been to a titty bar. He said he hadn’t and felt uncomfortable about the conversation.

‘It was an odd thing, you may think for anyone to say to a stranger on a flight but not as odd as what he was going to go on to say, at one point talking about masturbation and saying it was a way to relive stress.’

The court heard the student had ‘faked a laugh’, which prosecutors say was through embarrassment, and McConnell continued chatting to him.

It was when the student began to tire, it is claimed McConnell covered him with a blanket, which he initially thought was ‘kind’.

It is claimed the vicar sexually assaulted him when after he fell asleep.

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Mr Espley said: ‘As he was drifting off to sleep, he felt Mr McConnell’s hand under the blanket, on his right knee, thigh area, massaging his thigh, knee.

‘That lasted 10 to 15 seconds.

‘He said he must have fallen asleep. He recalls jolting awake and when he did he looked down and could see Mr Connell’s hand had stopped groping his knee, thigh area and was rubbing his penis area, rubbing side to side, over the top of his pants.’

The court heard the student ‘started crying’ when he confided in his mum what had happened and alerted the authorities.

Mr Espley said McConnell admitted to police he had engaged in conversation with the stranger during the flight and that he had had around four small bottles of wine but denied any inappropriate touching.

Speaking from the witness box, the student said McConnell, who he thought may have been a teacher had about ‘five to ten’ little bottles of wine.

The student said he found some of McConnell’s conversation ‘really disgusting’ and that he was ‘shocked, disgusted and disturbed’ after he was touched under the blanket.

Vicar 'groped sleeping student under blanket after downing wine' on UK-bound flight

He added: ‘He kept trying to talk to me, wanting to apologise.

‘He wanted to shake my hand, started blaming the alcohol, saying he was drunk, trying to get me to forgive him. I said no.

‘He kept trying to shake my hand, he twice tried to hug me, I pulled away.

‘He tried to kiss the hair above my ear, which was very disturbing.’

The student said McConnell, who he thought was a teacher, then started to deny that he had touched him.

He said McConnell had mentioned he enjoyed teaching children and talked about religion a lot and God.

The student said he asked for McConnell’s contact details when the flight ended as he was ‘worried about the safety of the children he taught’.

He said he realised McConnell’s profession when he spotted the word vicarage in the email address he gave him.

The student said he reported what had happened to the airline and the Church of England and the police became involved as a result.

The trial continues.