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	Sex Case Minister Wins Her 9-Year Struggle with Kirk Payout over Scandal That Rocked Rural Parish By Brian Mccartney Glasgow Daily Record [Scotland] October 25, 2006 http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_headline=sex-case-minister-wins-her-9-year-strug gle-with-kirk-&method=full&objectid=17985519&siteid=66633-name_page.html A Minister forced to resign for having sex with a married church elder has won her nine-year legal battle with the Church of Scotland. Helen Percy, 39, had admitted the sexual encounter with Sandy Nicoll, now aged 61, but alleged that she had not consented. Yesterday, the Kirk backed down from a sex discrimination tribunal at the eleventh hour and paid her a five-figure sum. Ironically, Helen, who opted to quit the pulpit rather than face the sack, said she never wanted a penny. She said: "It wasn't about money. In fact, at the beginning, I offered to withdraw my civil action. "I wanted the Church to talk to me and negotiate a press release that was a fair and accurate version of events. But they refused even to talk to me." And she hasn't ruled out applying to be reinstated as a minister. She said: "I haven't decided whether to do that. The loss of my ministry has been a great hurt to me." Helen, originally from Ongar in Essex, was ordained as a Church of Scotland minister in 1991. In 1994, she was appointed an associate minister in the presbytery of Angus, covering six glen parishes. But in June 1997, the rural community of Kilry, Perthshire, where she lived, was rocked when she was suspended over allegations that she was having an affair. She admitted having sex once with farmer Nicoll in 1995 and, after a six-month investigation by Angus presbytery, she resigned. But she claimed that the Kirk had put pressure on her to quit and accused Nicoll of having sex with her without her consent. At the time, she told the Record: "I was in bed suffering from 'flu. Sandy came to my farmhouse with some hot soup. He ended up in my bed. "I loved him as a father figure. But when he climbed into my bed I just froze. I am guilty of loving Sandy Nicoll. I did have sex with him, not wholeheartedly. I wanted his affection but nothing more. "But from the second I was accused of having an affair, my first words to the moderator of the presbytery were that the incident was tantamount to rape. "Sandy admitted to the presbytery what had happened and was instructed to write a letter confirming what had happened and he did." Helen took the Kirk to an employment tribunal on the grounds that she had been "unfairly treated" because of her sex. She argued she had been treated more harshly than male ministers who had extra-marital relationships. After losing her first tribunal hearing, she took her case to Scotland's highest court, the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Judges there ruled her duties as a minister were "essentially spiritual" - in effect, that as a servant of God she was not subject to employment law protection. But earlier this year, five law lords overturned that ruling, clearing the way for her to sue for compensation. Yesterday, on the eve of a new tribunal hearing in Dundee, she agreed the out-of-court settlement. The Church of Scotland refused to give details of the compensation package or cost of legal fees. A spokeswoman would only say: "The matter was settled out of court last night. The matter is now closed." In a statement released yesterday through her solicitor, Helen said the investigation by Angus Presbytery had concluded that the "single sexual encounter" with Nicoll had been "without her consent". The statement continued: "The presbytery thereafter provided a press release on the basis of the minutes but deleted the reference to the sexual encounter having taken place without her consent. "As a consequence of that omission, Miss Percy lodged a complaint of unfair dismissal and discrimination with the civil courts. "A financial settlement was agreed yesterday. "The church has agreed to endorse the presbytery minute of December 2nd 1997, including the reference to the lack of consent. Scandal "Miss Percy remains disappointed the central issue of injustice has not been permitted to be raised in either a civil or an ecclesiastical court." At the height of the scandal, some parishioners branded Helen a "witch" and accused her of preaching in her nightdress. Nicoll's wife Moyra began divorce proceedings and their £500,000 farm was put on the market. Since Helen left the ministry, she has travelled widely. "Initially, she spent three years in Zimbabwe, in the Kalahari desert, where she set up a rape crisis centre for children and women." Some years ago, she revealed she was terrified of sex after years of abuse as a child. She said: "From the age of about seven until I was 16, someone close to me raped and abused me. "I had to leave home because I was pregnant and I had an abortion. For the rest of my life I've always had difficulties dealing with sex." On her return from Africa, Helen returned to the parish and now lives in a cottage belonging to one of her former parishioners. She has had a number of jobs, including childminding and gardening and now keeps sheep to earn a living. She added: "In the first two or three years after I demitted office I was at my most vulnerable. "No amount of money would have made up for the grief and hurt I have gone through in the last nine years." Now she has won her long legal battle, Helen said there will be no huge celebration. She added: "This is not going to change my life and I wouldn't want it to. "I am rich in the friends I have and my experiences have shown me just how many real friends I do have."
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