A VILLAGE vicar has been cleared of 11 out of 12 sexual offences against children.
A jury at Reading Crown Court has found the Rev Peter Jarvis not guilty of seven counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three count of sexual activity with a child and one of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
But after around eight hours of deliberation the jury of seven women and five men could not reach a verdict on one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and was discharged this afternoon.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is still deciding whether to apply for a retrial on the final count and the 50-year-old vicar will appear at the same court next Thursday to hear their case.
Jarvis, of Clares Green Road in Spencers Wood, denied all 12 charges which relate to four children from Newbury and Thatcham and spanned three years between 2008 and 2011.
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