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The Baptist Church in Britain has been hit by a string of child sex abuse claims.

Seven men allege that they were raped as teenagers by a paedophile minister.

Their High Court writ is the first action against the UK church and legal sources say it could cost it millions of pounds.

The men claim they were abused by Reverend Robert Dando, 48, who was jailed for eight years in Virginia, US, in 2011 for molesting two boys between 1995 and 1999.

Dando had been in the US on overseas ­missions. After his arrest in 2011 he resigned as senior minister at Worcester Park Baptist church in south-west London.

He was also a minister at Orchard Baptist church in Bicester, Oxfordshire, from 1995 to 2006.

The alleged attacks in Britain are claimed to have happened between 1996 and 2008.

It is believed two men came forward with allegations, prompting others to follow suit.

Allegations include multiple rapes and ­serious sexual assaults.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “There is an investigation underway involving the Reverend Robert Dando.”