Wife-beating former Oxford vicar Christopher Walker has walked free from court after pleading guilty to an attack on his 87-year-old mother.

Magistrates yesterday heard how Walker grabbed his frightened mother Daphne and held her tightly for half an hour while he ranted drunkenly about the “injustices” in his life.

The 57-year-old former vicar of St Mary’s Church, in Barton, was convicted less than a year ago of repeatedly kicking his wife Rachel in the face during a drunken rage, for which he was jailed for six months.

Yesterday, magistrates in Reading gave Walker a suspended sentence for the attack on his mother.

The latest incident by the former rector of St John the Baptist Church in South Moreton, near Didcot, happened at Mrs Walker’s home in Coley, Reading, in February.

In a statement to police, Mrs Walker said: “Christopher turned on me and took hold of me by my shoulders and collarbone and held me against the sink. He then went on a verbal rant. “I’m only a frail old lady and his hands were hurting me. It was extremely frightening.”

She told officers that the previous evening her son had been aggressive and abusive towards her.

However, she said she did not want her son to get into trouble or to be jailed — and would not testify against him in court.

Paul Cantrill, defending, told magistrates: “It’s not easy to mitigate for someone who has pleaded guilty to assaulting an 87-year-old woman, made worse when it was their mother. He’s deeply ashamed at what he has done and is deeply sorry and remorseful.”

Mr Cantrill said his client’s admission showed his true feelings, stating an unscrupulous person could have abused his mother’s reluctance to testify and got away with the attack.

At a previous appearance the former clergyman said he had started drinking after being diagnosed with leukaemia in 2003.

In 2005, Walker was convicted of perjury in the trial of an undertaker who had given a grieving family the wrong ashes. He was given community service and ordered to pay £1,500 in court costs.

Chairman of the bench Judith Howells gave Walker, who admitted a single charge of common assault, a four-month sentence, suspended for two years.

Walker, who is now living with a friend in Robin Hood Road, Brentwood, Essex, must also undergo an alcohol treatment programme, a domestic violence programme and pay £60 costs, the court ordered.

Sarah Meyrick, a spokesman for the Diocese of Oxford, said they were “saddened to hear of this distressing incident”.

She added: “We should clarify that Mr Walker has not been involved in ministry in the Church of England for some time and is barred from holding office.”

Gary Knight, 53, a warden at St Mary’s Church in Barton said: “We’re shocked by this. He showed no signs of being like that when he was a parish priest.

“To me, Christopher Walker was a good priest of St Mary’s – don’t run him down. Don’t make him out to the bad guy, I won’t have it.”

cwalker@oxfordmail.co.uk