A senior Church of England clergyman appeared in court today charged with drink driving.

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Methuen, was charged with being almost one and a half times the legal limit at Harrogate's Magistrates Court.

Dean Methuen, of Bedern Bank, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, is charged with driving a car along Bedern Bank at Ripon with 51 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath on Friday May 13 this year. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

The Dean, dressed in a dark suit with a blue shirt and tie, spoke only to give his name and address during the five-minute hearing.

Defence solicitor Richard Buchanan applied for a two-week adjournment.

The Dean was granted unconditional bail and will appear before Magistrates in Harrogate again on June 2.

Mr Methuen was suspended from Ripon Cathedral on full pay last September following allegations of conduct unbecoming the office and work of a clerk in holy orders and one offence of serious, persistent or continuous neglect of duty.

The allegations, which were all denied by the Dean, centred around a long-running row after three members of staff quit over his management style.

Under the terms of an agreement with the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds John Packer last month, Mr Methuen will leave the cathedral by the end of the year and is on sabbatical leave in the meantime.

He joined the cathedral in 1995.