The Rev Lee Clark, vicar of St Philip the Apostle in Tottenham, North London, describes the full-length clerical garment – which he wears when he visits parishioners – as his ‘suit of armour’
A priest in a parish blighted by knife violence has confessed he wears a cassock to deter attackers from stabbing him in the street.
The Rev Lee Clark, vicar of St Philip the Apostle in Tottenham, North London, describes the full-length clerical garment – which he wears when he visits parishioners – as his ‘suit of armour’.
The 37-year-old Church of England cleric told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Fortunately, the cassock still commands some respect and only the most violent and twisted people are going to stab a priest.
‘If I walk onto an estate to see a parishioner dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, people think I’m there for either drugs or sex, or I’m an undercover police officer and there’s a good chance I’ll get stabbed.
‘It’s sad really, but I wear it when I’m out and about now. It’s become my suit of armour.’
Mr Lee, who took over the tough inner-city parish in August last year, said that his parents had been uneasy about his move to Tottenham with his wife and two young children because of London’s knife crime epidemic.
He added: ‘It’s horrible really but I do worry for my children growing up in this area. It’s got to the stage now that no one’s safe.’
Mr Lee, who is also a county commissioner for Greater London North East Scouts, revealed that he once met the murdered schoolgirl Jodie Chesney. The 17-year-old Explorer Scout was stabbed to death in an East London park in March
According to the latest figures, 40,829 offences involving knives or sharp instruments were recorded in 2018 in England and Wales – up six per cent on the previous year.
Murders in the capital have rocketed by 38 per cent since 2014, figures, which exclude those killed by terrorism, reveal.
Mr Lee, who worked as a civil servant before becoming a priest, told how he had rushed to the side of a stabbing victim outside the church last December.
‘I realised he was Catholic so was ready to administer the last rites as he lay on the ground,’ he
