THE vicar of an Oxford church will enter pleas next month on 20 allegations of abusing a teenage boy.

Father Michael Wright, 69, appeared at Blackfriars Crown Court in London and had his case adjourned until December 8 for a plea and case management hearing.

Wright faces 15 charges of indecently assaulting a boy and a further five counts of a serious sexual offence with the same boy.

It is alleged he abused the boy at St Stephen's Church, in Lewisham, South London, between December 1973 and December 1976.

Wright has been vicar at St Barnabas Church in Jericho, Oxford, since 1980.

He was suspended by the Oxford Diocese following the police investigation.

He also stood down from his role as a governor at St Barnabas Primary School in Jericho.