Vicar orders two-year-old out of church for talking during his parents' wedding

A couple have accused a vicar of ruining their wedding after he ordered their two-year-old son out of the church for talking.

Jesus said 'let the little children come to me', but his words apparently failed to inspire the Reverend David Cameron.

The vicar, who is understood to have two grown-up children of his own, halted the marriage of Ashley and Vicky Thorpe after their son, Cameron, began repeating his father's name.

The vicar stunned the 100-strong congregation by halting the service and announcing: 'This is a legal ceremony and I cannot proceed with that (Cameron's chattering) going on. Will somebody please take him outside?'

As the couple stood at the altar in disbelief, Mr Thorpe's grandmother protested that Cameron was not misbehaving.

But the vicar said she was 'making a scene' and ordered her to leave too.

He then told the congregation: 'If anyone else wants to make a scene, do it now', before eventually resuming the ceremony after Cameron was taken outside by an aunt.

The couple have complained to the Diocese of Lichfield, which has launched an investigation into Mr Cameron's conduct at Christ Church in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Discord in church: Vicar David Cameron

Mrs Thorpe, 20, an office administrator from Fenton, said: 'A wedding is supposed to be the best day of a girl's life but my service was ruined by a nasty vicar.

'Cameron was only acting as any two-year-old would. It is completely unrealistic to expect a child to remain silent in church.'

Mrs Thorpe said Mr Cameron had already offended the family during the wedding rehearsal, when he objected to her father, Denis Robinson  -  who suffers from arthritis  -  using a walking stick to escort her up the aisle. She said the vicar asked him: 'Do you really need to walk with that?'

She said the vicar also barred Cameron from acting as a page boy because he was 'too young' and because 'weddings were not the place for children'.

Mr Thorpe, 21, a sales adviser, added: 'Cameron had been chatting away before the service started, and I could see him looking down his nose at my son, becoming more and more irritable.

'Then, as soon as the actual service began and the vicar mentioned our names, Cameron started saying "Ashley, Ashley".

'That was when the vicar ordered him out. We were just dumbstruck.'

The couple said they were speaking out to warn others planning weddings at the church about Mr Cameron, and not to recover the £500 cost of the service.

Mrs Thorpe's uncle, Michael O'Driscoll, a funeral director, said: 'I have organised funerals at Christ Church where this vicar will not let families play any sort of music, other than hymns.

It causes offence at a difficult time when families are grieving. Cameron did nothing wrong here. The vicar was totally out of order.'

The Diocese of Lichfield has asked the Bishop of Stafford to investigate the family's claims.

Diocesan spokesman Gavin Drake said: 'These are very serious allegations. We want all people to feel welcome in the church  -  we don't want anybody to feel excluded on the basis that they have children.'

If the complaint is upheld, penalties under Church of England disciplinary laws range from an admonishment or warning to the vicar being defrocked.

Mr Cameron, who has been at Christ Church since 1996, said: 'This is a pastoral issue best resolved directly with the family.

'As such it would be inappropriate for me to offer any comment apart from to say that I entirely reject the allegations.'