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	Kluk Case Priestlied 'To His Own God' on Hidden Church Hatch, Says Parishioner By John Robertson The Scotsman [Scotland] April 28, 2007 http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=656542007 The priest at the centre of the Angelika Kluk murder trial was accused yesterday by a parishioner of lying to a jury and to "his own God". Father Gerry Nugent, 63, had said in evidence that he did not know of a hatch in the floor of St Patrick's Church, Glasgow, down which the body of the murdered Polish student had been hidden. Advert for The Scotsman Digital Archive However, Sarah Howie insisted that he had known about it, "without a shadow of a doubt". She also dismissed Fr Nugent's claim that there had been a sexual relationship between them. "He chased ... harassed me ... but we never had any sexual relationship whatsoever," said Mrs Howie, 45. Fr Nugent was the priest of St Patrick's last September when Ms Kluk, on a working holiday in Scotland, stayed in the church house. He has since resigned. Several days after she was reported missing, her body was found in an underfloor void, accessed by a hatch near the confessional box. She had been beaten on the head and stabbed repeatedly. Earlier in the trial, Fr Nugent said he had not known of the hatch. He had also said he and Mrs Howie had a sexual relationship in 1999. When told she denied that, he said: "If she means did we actually have sex, no we did not actually have sex. There was sexual intimacy ... that is what I mean by sexual relationship." The priest also maintained he knew nothing of the murder of Ms Kluk. Mrs Howie, a married mother of two grown-up children, yesterday told the court she worked as a home care co-ordinator with Glasgow City Council. She had attended St Patrick's most of her life, and regularly over the last 15 years. She had been married there and was a singer during Mass. Around eight years ago, not long after Fr Nugent had arrived at St Patrick's, she asked his permission, and was given it, to search the church for crypts. She recalled: "My friend and I had heard there were crypts under the floor and there might be tunnels that led into Charing Cross. We were quite nosy and decided one night to investigate. What we were looking for were old priests or bishops [buried] in vaults under the church." She and her friend lifted the trapdoor outside the confessional box, and used a torch to look under the floor. They were disappointed to find there were no crypts. Mrs Howie said that at that time, there had been no carpet and the floor hatch was "very visible". She continued: "It did not take Einstein to work out where it was. It had a wee brass ring pull, and it was slighly indented. If you were to walk on it, even under the carpet [fitted later] you could slightly feel it." On the night of the search, Fr Nugent approached the women as they knelt by the open hatch, and asked jokingly if they had found any dead bodies. Mrs Howie agreed with defence counsel Donald Findlay, QC, that every time the priest went in and out of the confessional box, he would step on the trapdoor. "Definitely, you could not miss it," she said. Mr Findlay described the evidence as "absolutely crucial", and asked: "Seven or eight years ago, did Fr Nugent know there was a trapdoor giving access to the area beneath the floor of St Patrick's in front of the confessional box?" Mrs Howie replied: "Most definitely he did. He knew there was a hatch there. He saw us at it." Mr Findlay: "He told this court on oath, before his Almighty God, that he did not." Mrs Howie: "He did." Mr Findlay: "That man, a priest, a man of God, lied not only to this court but to his own God if what you say is true." Mrs Howie: "Yes. My friend who was with me could tell you that as well." The witness was also questioned about Fr Nugent's claim that he had had a sexual relationship with her. She said: "No he did not. No sexual relationship with me whatsoever. He chased me...if you want to call it, harassed me, but we never had any sexual relationship whatsoever." Peter Tobin, 60, the handyman at St Patrick's, denies raping and murdering Ms Kluk. In a special defence to the rape allegation, he states that they had sex, with her consent.
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