A VICAR called on his training from a previous job to make an arrest while being attacked by a gang of youths.

The Reverend Paul Mothersdale, a former inner-city police sergeant, hung on to a teenager who had initiated the attack while 19 others rained kicks on his body.

The 49-year-old said: "It is just a case of protecting your face and hanging on for the cavalry to arrive."

The cavalry, in the form of Cleveland Police, had been summoned to the scene - Middlesbrough's Easterside estate - by the clergyman's wife, Jacky, on a mobile phone. She was attacked herself by a youth who leapt on her back.

Mrs Mothersdale said: "He got the shock of his life. I grabbed him between the legs, twisted and squeezed."

Trouble began when two weeping girls sought sanctuary in the vicar's garden after fleeing from the gang of boys, one protesting she would be beaten up if she went back to the street.

Mrs Mothersdale said her husband had escorted the two girls, who were drunk, out of the garden and was attempting to usher the rest of the drunken gang away.

But one of the teenagers lashed out at him, punching the clergyman in the face.

His attacker's friends closed in on the vicar, who fell, pinning the teenager to the ground beneath him.

The vicar, who used to patrol tough areas of Chapeltown and Seacroft in Leeds, said: "It is unfortunate they are a small minority of people who cause bother which stigmatises the rest."

Cleveland Police said a 16-year-old had been arrested in connection with the incident but had been released on police bail, pending further inquiries.