A church minister allegedly abducted and beaten up before being dumped by a remote country road miles from home, was yesterday recovering in hospital with head injuries and a broken leg.

The 63-year-old minister and school governor was formerly director of broadcasting with Tyne Tees Television before becoming a churchman, and yesterday friends said they were appalled by the incident.

Peter Moth, a father-of-two, is minister of St Andrew's United Reformed Church, on the Montagu Estate in Newcastle, and a governor of the city's Royal Grammar School.

Northumbria Police said Mr Moth was found lying by the roadside near the remote Northumberland village of Byrness earlier this week.

Ordained 30 years ago, Mr Moth's first job was as a minister of a parish in West Yorkshire before he entered the media world.

He rose through the ranks at Tyne Tees Television from a TV reporter to director of broadcasting in 1993. He also served as the station's head of current affairs before suddenly quitting his job in 1996, blaming health reasons and moving back into the ministry.

Nobody at St Andrew's United Reformed Church was available for comment yesterday.

l Two local men, aged 26 and 31, have been charged with kidnapping and assaulting Mr Moth and have been remanded in custody by Newcastle magistrates