A VICAR who moved to Baghdad when the Church of England told him his multiple sclerosis made him too ill to work in Britain returned to his Redbridge roots last week.

Canon Andrew White, who grew up in Wanstead, came to South Woodford's Holy Trinity Church to deliver a talk about his experiences in Iraq, watched on by a “spellbound” audience of more than 150 people, according to Holy Trinity vicar Rev Robert Hampson.

Canon White told the crowd of the risk Christians in the country face on a daily basis.

Rev Hampson said: “Canon White related that four weeks ago two Muslim men asked him to baptize them as Christians. He warned them of the dangers, but they were not to be put off.

“In the first days of this year both these men were killed plus their entire families. Such is the nature of risk that Christian converts are under.

“Those who heard Canon White speak heard a man talk of a simple man who believes in a God who works miracles.

“Canon White is a man of integrity, honesty and simplicity.

"He has often been the only person that all sides are prepare to talk to, and has therefore been instrumental perhaps more than any other person in bring a change to that country that permits our soldier to return home in safety later this year.”