SCOTLAND YARD is investigating a curious incident in which his lordship, the Bishop of Southwark, appears to have got rather tipsy and believed he had been robbed.

Tom Butler, 66, is thought to have been well entertained at an embassy function in London’s Belgravia last week. During his walk home he lost his bishop’s cross and personal belongings, and in a bizarre act is alleged to have got into the back seat of a parked Mercedes in a street called Crucifix Lane, south London, and begun throwing children’s toys out of the window.

The following day a member of his staff reported the loss of the cross, a personal organiser, a mobile phone and private papers to the police.

The bishop, a regular on Thought for the Day on Radio 4’s Today programme, told worshippers at the inauguration of a new vicar that night that he had been mugged and that his head was so bruised that he could not wear his mitre.

But people living and working near Southwark Cathedral in south London describe an altogether different incident in which the bishop, wearing his robe under a black coat, was found in the rear of the unlocked silver Mercedes A200 car.

Paul Sumpter, the car’s owner, was playing pool in the Suchard bar nearby. He and some other customers came out to confront Butler after the car’s alarm sounded and its hazard lights began to flash.

Sumpter said to Butler: “Oi, what are you doing in my car?” The bishop allegedly replied: “I’m the Bishop of Southwark. It’s what I do.”

Two of the men pulled him from the car and in the fracas the bishop, a married father of two, accidentally fell to the pavement and injured his head.

He sat and then lay on the pavement for several minutes while an onlooker dialled 999, but Butler declined medical attention and an ambulance was cancelled.

The bishop then got up and staggered off. He also lost his spectacles in the incident.

Next day his office called the police to report the loss of property. This was interpreted by some newspapers as a mugging.

Worshippers at the inauguration service at All Saints Church in Dulwich that evening recall the bishop telling them that he had been mugged. His office insists he said he had “apparently” been robbed.

A detective from Lambeth CID is investigating the incident. “I am sure we will get to the bottom of it at some point,” said a Yard spokeswoman.

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