A CATHEDRAL canon has spoken about his "horrendous" 14 months, after a misconduct allegation against him was dropped.

Canon Andrew Hindley was suspended on full salary of around 24,000 after a complaint was made about comments he allegedly made.

Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, has confirmed the case was withdrawn as a key witness was not able "to be called or cross-examined."

Canon Hindley said he was delighted to be back at work. "The past 14 months have been horrendous," said Canon Hindley, who was appointed Canon Sacrist in 1996.

"The affair has called into question my personal integrity as a priest and whatever people say about suspension, it is not a neutral act. People assume guilt.

"There has been an awful lot of rumour mongering and speculation." Canon Hindley declined to go into detail about comments he allegedly made or who they were made to. "What I will say is that the person with whom I had the conversation made no complaint," he said.

"A third person reported the conversation to the bishop and their involve-ment led to disciplinary procedure.

"The resolution of this matter is extremely welcome although it has taken far too long to get there," said Canon Hindley, who was previously rector of St Wilfrid's, Ribchester.

"I celebrate 25 years of ordination on July 3 and it would have been hugely distressing to reach that landmark and not be in work. It's good to be back."

The allegations were brought under the Clergy Disciplinary Measure 2003 and sources close to the case estimate the cost to the Church of England could be as high as 100,000.

Canon Hindley thanked the many members of the Cathedral congregation who lobbied for him to be reinstated and his legal representative, Peter Turner, of Forbes Solicitors.

"I really have had an enormous amount of support throughout this from members of the congregation and some of my colleagues," said Canon Hindley.

"I have been living under a cloud and that too has put a great strain on the Cathedral community.

"I have a lot of catching up to do and I am looking forward to getting on with my job," he added.

Mr Turner said the action was the first to be directed to a tribunal under the 2003 Clergy Disciplinary Measure, aimed at making church disci-plinary procedures more open. "It has been a difficult and slow process to get to this point," said Mr Turner.

Mr Turner said the full tribunal had been scheduled for September but, after his represen-tations, Circuit Judge Simon Grenfell, sitting in Leeds, reported to Lord Justice Mummery, President of the Church of England Disciplinary Tribunal, that a fair trial was impossible.

After that ruling Mr Turner applied to Lord Justice Mummery for the matter to be withdrawn.