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	Latest: Angelika Trial Told Priest Was "Liar and Sex Pest" The Herald [Scotland] April 27, 2007 http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1361358.0.0.php The priest who claimed he had an affair with murder victim Angelika Kluk was a liar and a sex pest, a parishioner has claimed in court. Father Gerry Nugent, 63, has told the High Court in Edinburgh he did not know about the hole in the floor of his church where the Polish student's body was found. The former parish priest also claimed a sexual relationship with parishioner Sarah Howie - before back-tracking and telling the trial he meant only intimacy but not sexual intercourse. On Friday mother-of-two Mrs Howie, 45, of Shawlands, Glasgow, told jurors that the priest was wrong on both counts. When advocate depute Dorothy Bain, prosecuting, told Mrs Howie that Father Nugent said he had had a sexual relationship with her she responded angrily. "No he didn't, no he didn't. No sexual relationship with me whatsoever." But she continued: "He chased me if you like, he harassed me but we never had any sexual relationship whatsoever." Earlier the trial heard that when singer and guitarist Mrs Howie was tuning her guitar, Father Gerry put his hand on her backside and was told to"f**k off." Mrs Howie was not questioned about the alleged incident on Friday. She also claimed that Father Gerry knew seven or eight years ago about the trap door in the then bare floor which, last September, became the entrance to Angelika's temporary tomb. "The trap door was quite visible. There was no carpet on the floor then. It was very visible. It did not take Einstein to work out where it was." Mrs Howie - who has been a regular worshipper at St Patrick's for 14 or 15 years and was married there - described how she and a friend went exploring. They had heard tales of a possible crypt under the church, where former priests or bishops might be buried, and tunnels leading underground to the Charing Cross area of Glasgow. Father Gerry gave them permission to look under the floor near the confession box, she said. They took a torch and went into the void but found nothing of interest. "That priest, that man of God lied not only to this court, he lied before his own god, if what you say is true." Donald Findlay, QC Mrs Howie agreed with Ms Bain that that was a disappointment. She also described how she and the other woman were kneeling at the trap door when Father Gerry approached and dismissed their efforts with a "Oh, what are you like." Mrs Howie continued: "He says to me in a joking manner 'Oh, did you find any bodies?' and we laughed and said 'Oh, no, nothing like that." The exploration happened about seven or eight years ago, she insisted, just after Father Gerry came to St Patrick's. On trial is church handyman Peter Tobin, 60, who denies raping and murdering Angelika, 23, and hiding her body under the floor of the church. Earlier in the trial, his defence QC, Donald Findlay, repeatedly asked Father Gerry if he had known about the trap door at the time of Angelika's violent death. The priest denied it flatly and told the lawyer over and over again: "I know nothing about her death or the circumstances of her death." On Friday Mr Findlay asked Mrs Howie how she knew about the hatch. She told him: "It was simple, there was no carpet on the floor then. Mr Findlay asked: "Would you agree that it was as plain as the nose on the proverbial face? Is that how it was eight years ago when you went and looked down it?" Mrs Howie replied: "It was as clear as that to me." She also said there had been a brass ring in the hatch cover, which could still be felt, slightly, after the floor was carpeted. The court was shown pictures of the floor, in front of the church confessional. Mr Findlay: "Did the priest use the confessional box we see in the photo." Mrs Howie: "Oh yes, he did that." Mr Findlay said: "So every time he went in and out of the confessional box he was treading on the trap door?" Mrs Howie: "Oh yes. He couldnae miss it." When told that Father Gerry had denied knowing about the hatch Mrs Howie said: "Most definitely he did." Mr Findlay said: "That priest, that man of God lied not only to this court, he lied before his own god, if what you say is true." Mrs Howie said: "Yes." She said her friend would back up her story and added: "Yes, he knew perfectly well, without a shadow of a doubt." The trial also heard how on October 6 last year that Detective Insepector Andrew McMillan, 37, interviewed Mr Tobin to be met with "no comment" to most of his questions about Angelika Kluk. "I do not have the answers," Mr Tobin told the detective. He later added: "Go back and talk to people." Mr Tobin also told the police he was suffering from a hardening of the arteries. Mr Tobin denies murder, attempting to defeat the ends of justice, attempting to pervert the course of justice and breach of the peace. He also denies rape, claiming he had sex with Angelika with her consent. Angelika had been staying at the chapel house attached to St Patrick's Church in Anderston, Glasgow, and working as a cleaner to help finance her language studies in Gdansk. Mr Tobin was helping out there as an odd job man. He is accused of attacking Angelika between September 24 and September 29 in St Patrick's Church, or elsewhere, gagging her with cloth and tape, binding her hands with cable ties, raping her, smashing her skull with a piece of wood or something similar, stabbing her 16 times in the chest and inflicting other knife injuries. It is alleged that he then hid the body under the floor of the church. A further charge alleges that he told Glasgow police his name was Patrick McLaughlin, gave a false date of birth and address, and that he travelled to London and gave staff at the National Neurology and Neurosurgery Hospital in Queen's Square, London, another false name. Mr Tobin also denies a breach of the peace between July and September last year by threatening Russian student Rebecca Dordi at St Patrick's Church. The trial continues.
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