A Bradford vicar today told a jury that sexual allegations against him were a plot to extract “big money” from the Church of England in compensation.

Peter Hedge said he utterly rejected claims by six men that he abused them as boys when he was curate at St Margaret’s Church, Thornbury, Bradford.

Hedge, 47, denies three charges of rape and 32 of indecent assault, spanning eight years when he was at St Margaret’s Church and then vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Queensbury, Bradford.

The jury at Bradford Crown Court found Hedge not guilty of one charge of indecent assault on the direction of trial judge Peter Benson at the close of the prosecution case.

Hedge told the jury he knew he was destined to be a vicar from the age of 15.

Born and raised in Rotherham, South York-shire, he won a scholarship to Oxford University to study chemistry.

In his second year at university he “fell apart” and began sleeping in sidings at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

Since 1982, he had done a variety of jobs on the preserved volunteer-run steam railway, including helping to write its child-protection policy manual.

After returning to Oxford, he worked for an accountancy firm which was based in Bradford.

In 1990, Hedge began training as a vicar. On July 3, 1993, he was ordained and became assistant curate at St Margaret’s.

Hedge said he had been “extremely naïve” about child-protection issues.

He told the court his eyes were opened after he was accused of groping a boy in 1997.

Hedge said he was terrified after that incident and ensured he was never alone with a child under the age of 16.

Hedge, of Chatsworth Road, Pudsey, was suspended from his post as vicar in September 2007.

Asked by his barrister, Richard Mansell QC, why his accusers, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, would make allegations against him, Hedge replied: “I think they are thinking they are going to get big money from compensation. I think they think they can sue the Church.”

He described one of his accusers in the case as “a bit of a schemer” with the wrong attitude towards money.

He denied accusations that he had smoked cannabis with the boys or given them alcohol.

“It is ridiculous. I utterly deny that,” he said.

Hedge had told the police that the children trusted him and that he had an “open house” policy when he was curate.

The trial continues.