Sally Army band leader runs off with trumpeter

A Sa;vation Army band leader has quit after starting an affair with a trumpeter half his age.

Captain Mark Bearcroft, 41, from Bognor Regis, left his wife Julie after starting an affair with 21-year-old Fiona Bradbury.

The relationship was reported to the heads of the Sally Army and he was suspended from his £40,000-a-year job at the charity. The couple are believed to have fallen for each other during rehearsals for charity concerts and church services. Ms Bradbury also used to babysit for Capt Bearcroft's daughter Rebecca, 13.

Capt Bearcroft, who is also a Salvation Army minister, is thought to be moving out of the family home and into a flat in Chichester with his lover, while his wife is moving to another Salvation Army branch in Ringwood, Hants.

Salvation Army members have said the affair was an open secret for months and accused Capt Bearcroft of hypocrisy.