A county vicar has been at the centre of a battle over the use of extreme pornography among junior ratings in the Royal Navy. He talks to Cathy Anstey, in a two-part feature, about why he decided to challenge the system and the personal toll that it has taken.

WHEN the Rev Mark Sharpe decided to become a vicar his main aim was to make a contribution to the community. In 1986 he had joined the police force and become a dog handler for exactly the same reason.

But after being badly bitten by a police dog, he had to start looking for something else to do. He had been interested in becoming a clergyman since he was in his mid-20s.

But, even 12 years in the police force - having to deal with violence, abuse, hardened criminals and human tragedies first in London and then in north Yorkshire -- did not prepare him for what he was about to encounter as a priest.

Part of his ordination training involved an attachment to the Royal Navy.

"I really enjoyed the environment," said 39-year-old Mr Sharpe, who is now the vicar of the Teme Valley South ministry. "There is something quite exciting about being a religious figure but not in a religious community."

He decided to become a Royal Navy Chaplain and joined HMS Albion in Florida for six weeks initial sea training as part of his induction in June 2004.

He was stripped of his religious identity and put in with other cadets to experience the same training as them.

Within a day his fellow ratings were exposed to hardcore pornography - and not the sort available on the top shelves of newsagencies.

According to Mr Sharpe, this was extreme sexual violence towards women known as "gonzo porn".

"It was public use of really vile stuff. I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination but this is damaging stuff," he said. "The worrying thing about the Albion was that it was treated like normal behaviour."

He said, out of a group of 30, there was a core of five individuals, with one ringleader, at the heart of this daily diet of violent porn.

"It is a small number of them who suck in the weak ones," he said.

Mr Sharpe said he came to the conclusion that a lot of the people joining the navy were coming from dysfunctional backgrounds. After three or four days he approached the ship's chaplain who told him to ask the individuals to stop it if he did not like it.

"One bloke particularly concerned me. He just saw it as a bit of fun. I don't think anybody got to grips with how bad it was."

He left the ship within a fortnight and then joined the destroyer Manchester where he said the big screen in the mess showed porn more or less continually.

"You just could not get away from it. At least on the Albion they were not doing anything to each other. On Manchester people were being dared to do things for money. They were violent towards each other."

He said there were also times when drinking sailors, stripped to their socks, would lick alcohol from each other's genitals.

"I came off the ship after three weeks. I could not tolerate it any more. I informed the navy police. I am not anti-military but what is going on is wrong. I came off the ship and all I knew was that I had to do something about it.

"The guys need to be educated about how this stuff is made. The women making this pornography are usually drugged. They are coerced."

He said the job the sailors do can be very stressful anyway, but then they had to deal with this bombardment of porn when all most of them wanted was a cup of tea and time to read What Car? magazine - in other words normality.

Mr Sharpe resigned from the navy and then took the Ministry of Defence to an industrial tribunal for sexual harassment and discrimination. He won compensation from the MoD after the navy admitted sexual harassment but denied discrimination. He says the undisclosed sum will be enough to cover his legal costs when it pays up.

So has it been worth the fight? Mr Sharpe says he is not sure. "It became consuming and I lost the opportunity to do a fantastic job," he said.

"I was really keen to be a Naval chaplain."

He has also swapped an £85,000 a year salary, including allowances, for the £20,000 a year of a rural rector.

But in some ways he has fulfilled his ambition of making a difference. The navy has changed its training procedures for new chaplains and he says his openness has started a public debate about violence and pornography in the sub-culture of the military and the wider community.