Ex-sas Man Barred from Clergy over Domestic Abuse

By Emma Yeomans
The Times
May 1, 2020

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ex-sas-man-barred-from-clergy-over-domestic-abuse-rmsqxxc2m

Paul Parks, who served in the SAS, was banned from the clergy for two years

A former soldier who became a vicar has been defrocked for abusing his wife, whom he called “Jezebel”, for 14 years.

The Rev Paul Parks, 60, formerly rector of St Helen’s Ore and St Barnabas in Hastings, was arrested in 2017 after his wife revealed the abuse, which included beating her and threatening to stab her with a letter opener.

Mr Park, formerly a member of The Parachute Regiment and SAS, was ordained as a priest in 1999. He met Lois, a school teacher, in 2002 and a year later she became his second wife.

However, a church misconduct hearing was told that before the wedding he accused her of cheating on him and called her a “slag” and a “cheap whore”. After Mr Park