Bishop of Southwark mugging

Scofflaw

I don't think there's anywhere sensible I can put this, nor does it have any real relationship whatsoever to religion.

Some of you may remember that the Bishop of Southwark was mugged a week ago.

Well, apparently not.

The mugging story has been put to rest by one Paul Sumpter:

Paul Sumpter was playing pool in a bar on, ironically, Crucifix Lane, in Bermondsey, when he heard his car alarm sound.

"I rushed out there and I saw an old looking guy with his legs hanging out the back of my car," said the property developer.

"My baby's toys were in the back seat and I could see him chucking them all about the place."

After "dragging" him away, the man initially revealed himself as the Bishop of Woolwich before falling on the pavement and knocking his head which left him unconscious for about five minutes.

Mr Sumpter called an ambulance but the man left the scene before emergency crews arrived.

I particularly like the idea of the Bishop of Southwark declaring "I'm the Bishop of Woolwich" before nosediving to the pavement, knocking himself out, and then getting up and wandering off before the ambulance arrives.

On Monday, a spokesman for Mr Butler said: "The Bishop of Southwark attended a reception in Belgravia on Tuesday evening. He left the reception to travel home by public transport.

"When he arrived home he was without his briefcase and mobile phone and had several fresh head wounds. He reported the matter to the police and sought medical attention."

The spokesman said Mr Butler would not resign over the incident.

Resign? Why would anyone on earth want this man to resign? Why did it even come up?

cordially,
Scofflaw

stevejazzx

So the bishop had been breaking into the car? If so, is that not the reason they talk about him resigning?

I'm confused....

5uspect

"I went to the doctor the next day and was told my injuries were consistent with a blow to the head, so I assumed I had been mugged, but that's a supposition. I am hoping the police will be able to be clearer."

Maybe the whole ordeal knocked some rational sense into him...

Beruthiel

Scofflaw wrote:

Resign? Why would anyone on earth want this man to resign? Why did it even come up?

Cos people don't like to think that the man they look up to for religious guidence can get so roaring drunk he can't even remember what he did the night before. Unholy behaviour

Dades

Scofflaw wrote:

I don't think there's anywhere sensible I can put this, nor does it have any real relationship whatsoever to religion.

I concur.

Although it's a miracle he made it home at all.

robindch

I rather enjoyed the fact that it was the Irish Embassy which filled the bishop with the holy spirits.

stevejazzx

ahhh he was drunk....how did I miss that!

Scofflaw

robindch wrote:

I rather enjoyed the fact that it was the Irish Embassy which filled the bishop with the holy spirits.

Yes - I was originally contemplating putting this under "Hazards of Belief" - as in believing that you will be alright to walk home after an Irish Embassy drinks do...

Personally, I love this kind of story - very Wodehouse.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Asiaprod

I still don't understand why he got in the car in the first place.

Scofflaw wrote:

Personally, I love this kind of story - very Wodehouse

Me too, grew up on him.

MrJoeSoap

Asiaprod wrote:

I still don't understand why he got in the car in the first place.

God told him to.

Asiaprod

MrJoeSoap wrote:

God told him to.

Ah!...lucky if you ask me.

Scofflaw

Asiaprod wrote:

I still don't understand why he got in the car in the first place.

I was wondering whether it was open-topped, and the good Bish simply fell in. Alternatively he may have thought it was a taxi.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Beruthiel

Asiaprod wrote:

I still don't understand why he got in the car in the first place.

Cos you never did anything totally silly while under the infulance...

Asiaprod

Beruthiel wrote:

Cos you never did anything totally silly while under the infulance...

I do lots of silly things, but not that silly.

Scofflaw

Asiaprod wrote:

I do lots of silly things, but not that silly.

I have done....sillier things. So much so that I still blush at one particular episode, 25 years later.

cordially,
Scofflaw

MrJoeSoap

Scofflaw wrote:

I have done....sillier things. So much so that I still blush at one particular episode, 25 years later.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Well you're going to have to tell us now...

(Unless its something obvious that people already know about, in which case a link will suffice )

Asiaprod

Scofflaw wrote:

I have done....sillier things. So much so that I still blush at one particular episode, 25 years later.

You blush! This we have to hear.

Scofflaw

Asiaprod wrote:

You blush! This we have to hear.

Er, no....can't do the actions. They're...necessary.

shamefacedly,
Scofflaw

Asiaprod

No one could make that journey while drunk
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent

It is a case that would have baffled even Brother Cadfael, the fictional medieval monastic sleuth. The mystery of the Bishop of Southwark's night out, during which he lost his mobile phone and briefcase but gained a black eye, remained just that yesterday despite the best efforts of John Humphrys.
In his first detailed interview about the incident earlier this month, the Rt Rev Tom Butler said he still could not remember what happened between leaving a reception at the Irish embassy in Belgravia and arriving at his south London home. However, he said that it would have been "entirely out of character" if he had been drunk.
Bishop Butler also described an account of him throwing children's toys around in the back of a parked Mercedes as "very strange" and insisted that his head injuries were compatible with his initial belief that he had been mugged. In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, before his regular Thought for the Day, the Bishop said he was having tests for amnesia.
"It's very worrying, I still have amnesia," he said. "I've had extensive medical tests and they are going on. I remember nothing from the early time of the party until I got home."
But he said his Oyster travelcard records show he made a complicated journey on trains and a bus from central London to his home in Streatham. "It would be entirely out of character if I was drunk," he said. "I really do defy anyone who's had too much to drink to make that journey."
Witnesses have said that a man who looked like the bishop climbed into the back of an unlocked Mercedes on Crucifix Lane near London Bridge in Southwark on the same night.The man was alleged to have been throwing children's toys around and to have declared: "I'm the Bishop of Southwark. It's what I do."
But Bishop Butler said: "That again is a very strange story" and argued that it was full of inconsistencies.
He denied misleading his congregation when he told them the following day he had been mugged, a claim that the police are no longer pursuing. "The injuries were compatible with being mugged and we all thought that's what had happened," he said.
Bishop Butler said he had been going to similar receptions for 20 years and that he was always "very careful".
Asked whether he often got drunk, he added: "No I don't get drunk frequently. I wouldn't be able to do my job if I did." He said he did not consider it a resigning matter.
He later used his Thought for the Day broadcast to speak of the Christmas message of mercy and love to the world.

Scofflaw

Roofies!

cordially,
Scofflaw