One of Britain's most experienced Muslim prison chaplains is arrested over an alleged sex attack on a woman

• Sikander Pathan was removed from his full-time duties at Feltham last week
• Imam was questioned by officers over claims he violently assaulted a woman
• Mr Pathan, 47, is now regional chaplain for all jails in London

A senior prison chaplain has been suspended after he was arrested over an alleged sex attack.

Sikander Pathan was removed from his full-time duties at Feltham – one of Britain’s biggest centres for young offenders – last week.

It came after the imam was questioned by officers on December 29 last year over claims that he violently assaulted a woman in Staines, Surrey. 

Sikander Pathan has been removed from his full-time duties at Feltham – one of Britain’s biggest centres for young offenders

A Surrey Police spokesman said: ‘A man has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and assault, and bailed until March 8.’

Mr Pathan, 47, is one of the most experienced Muslim prison chaplains in the country, having provided spiritual care to inmates at Feltham in West London for more than a decade.

He is now regional chaplain for all jails in London. He also serves as secretary of the national Muslim Chaplains’ Association and has spoken widely on the risk of radicalisation behind bars.

In 2011, he gave evidence on the topic to MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee. Mr Pathan has also worked as an NHS chaplain, vice-principal at a madrasa school and preaches at a mosque near Heathrow.

A decade ago, he spoke to a newspaper about his chaplaincy work at Feltham, saying: ‘When the boys come to prison and are going through a low patch, quite often they open themselves up to a chaplain.’