A priest stole £26,000 from parish funds to lavish on his cocaine addict friend, a court heard.

The Rev Phillip Hendry, 52, was convicted at the Old Bailey of stealing the cash to spend on Karl Rowley, a painter and decorator from Witney.

The money had been set aside to repair a church spire.

James Vine, prosecuting, said Hendry stole the money from his parish in Croydon, London, over a period of eight years, to support Rowley, a cocaine addict and drug courier.

The jury heard Hendry was besotted by Rowley and he regarded it as his Christian duty to give him money.

Hendry admitted: "I regarded him almost as a member of my family."

Hendry claimed Rowley had fleeced him out of a total of £130,000 after they met at the Brief Encounter gay bar, in Soho, London.

The jury found Hendry guilty of four charges of theft and three of false accounting.

Judge Simon Smith remanded him on bail until May 24.

Outside the court, Detective Sergeant Alistair Milne said: "It is a sad case because you have someone with qualities and attributes who has squandered it all in his pursuit of his relationship with Rowley.

"But there is no evidence of any kind of physical relationship, just a personal friendship."