A RETIRED archdeacon has appeared in court charged with sex offences.

George Granville Gibson, who was a Church Of England vicar in County Durham and archdeacon in Sunderland in the early 1990s, is accused of six counts of indecent assault against two men.

The first set of offences is alleged to have happened between 1976 and 1979, the second between 1990 and 1992.

Mr Gibson, 85, of Worsley Park, Darlington, is on trial at Durham Crown Court and denies all charges.

Lee Fish, prosecuting, told the jury the first victim was 17 to 18 at the time and was indecently assaulted while he was "involved with the same church".

Three charges relate to an alleged separate incident involving a man who was in his early twenties at the time.

The case continues.

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