A vicar hugged his son in tears after a jury cleared him of indecently assaulting a girl three decades ago.

Edilberto Marquez-Picon, 65, struggled to stifle his sobs in courtroom one’s dock at Oxford Crown Court as the foreman of the jury repeated the verdicts of ‘not guilty’ to four counts of indecent assault and one charge of child cruelty.

Wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, the Church of England vicar, of Woodley, Berks., bowed to the judge as he was released from the dock.

During the trial, the 12-strong jury heard that the defendant was accused of repeatedly groping and sexually assaulting the underage girl in Oxford and abroad three decades ago. He was also accused of acting cruelly towards the child, beating her with a spoon or threatening her with a belt.

Giving evidence, the complainant said she had first emailed the defendant in 2006 setting out the allegations. But it was not until 2019 that she contacted the Bishop of Reading, who oversaw Rev Marquez-Picon’s parish of Woodley.

The woman, who cannot be identified, told jurors: “The whole time [since the alleged assaults] I’ve been focused on myself, trying to heal, trying to move on, trying to forgive. I wish him well, I want him to be well, but at the same time I recognise he was or is in a public position and there is a responsibility with that and I felt burdened to share it.” 

Rev Marquez-Picon, who is originally from Peru, denied the alleged sexual offending and claimed any chastisement of her had been reasonable.

A series of witnesses and statements spoke of his positive character, both personally and in his work with the church.

The retired Archdeacon of Berkshire, the Ven Norman Russell, appointed the defendant to be vicar of Bucklebury parish church in 2001. The parishioners in the Berkshire village - to which the Princess of Wales' parents moved in 2012 - had struggled with a previous vicar, the court heard.

“[Marquez-Picon] established good personal relationships with parishioners both inside and outside the church and, through his pastoral care, the fractious relationship between the two Bucklebury parishes was overcome,” the former archdeacon said. He described the defendant as a ‘humble, godly priest of good character’.

A former churchwarden at Bucklebury, John Tennant, said the defendant was ‘very much our shepherd in the parish’.

Following a health scare not long after Marquez-Picon came to the village, Mr Tennant described being hugged by the vicar.

“He had a wonderful way of embracing one in what for a lot of people of this country is unusual,” the retired soldier said.

“He wrapped his arms around me in what would be described very much in love, [in a] comfortable manner and what one now thinks of as rather continental. It was probably his Latin background.”

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward