By Sarah Arnold and Jocelyn Cook
Mirror
May 17, 2009
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/17/exclusive-married -reverend-seduced-me-and-wanted-sex-three-times-a-day-115875-21365410/
Even the home he shared with his devoted wife - another church minister - was filled with images of the comic book character.
But far from being a superhero, 44-year-old Bates has been revealed as a seedy sex addict who seduced a vulnerable parishioner when she was at her lowest ebb.
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| With his dashing good looks and broad grin, the Reverend Russell Bates fancied himself as Superman to his faithful congregation. |
The clergyman demanded sex three times a day from pretty Jane Corps, who he chatted up at her mother's funeral. He even liked to grope her in his church vestry.
Mum-of-two Jane told how Bates sent a picture of an organ to her mobile - and it wasn't the one in his church.
"He was insatiable," said Jane, 39. "If I popped in to see him at work he'd shove me up against the vestry for a grope.
"He seemed to get a kick out of it. He was obsessed with Superman and referred to himself as my superhero. He told me he wanted to scoop me up like his comic book idol and I admit I was swept away with the romance of it."
Their 18-month affair ended when Bates's wife became pregnant and Jane caught him out with yet another woman.
She has since discovered the twice-married reverend has been trawling internet dating sites looking for flings.
Astonishingly Bates, who told Jane he was trapped in a sexless marriage, made his move during a bereavement counselling session when he was minister at New Eltham Methodist Church in South-east London in April 2006.
Jane said: "I was heartbroken when Mum died. I had little to do with the church up until then but when I was joined at her bedside by the minister I was moved.
"Mum was heavily involved in the church and I knew it would be a comfort to her for him to be there. So when he offered to conduct mum's funeral I was really grateful.
"And when he sidled up to me after the service to tell me I looked 'gorgeous', I assumed he was just being kind."
Jane later took up silverhaired Bates's offer of bereavement counselling. But instead of the professional service she was expecting, he slipped off his dog-collar and took her to a pub. .
"I thought it weird that we didn't meet in the church but assumed he was trying to take me somewhere I was more comfortable," she said.
"He looked completely different without the dog-collar and was a bit spruced up. When he ordered a bottle of wine to share I was a little shocked but I was so mixed up I just felt relief that I had someone to talk to."
But rather than allow Jane to share her grief, the minister launched into his own sob story, claiming his wife, fellow minister Jo Thornton, refused to have sex with him.
"I found myself listening to the sad stories about his life and his marriage and almost forgot why we were there," she said. "At the end of that session, when he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek I still didn't see it as wrong.
"But when he picked me up in his car for the next session he lunged at me before I could even get out of the car and pinned me against the door for a full-on snog.
"I was shocked but flattered when he then told me he 'fancied the pants' off me. Looking back I can't believe I didn't see how wrong it all was but my judgment was clouded by grief." Next day, Jane's mobile phone beeped with a message from Bates. "This is all she cooks for me," it said, followed by a picture of a plate of dry rice.
"I felt so sad for him," she admitted. "There he was, head of his church, doing all this selfless good and he was trapped in a loveless marriage with no one being kind back."
Days later the lonely brunette became his lover. Jane said: "At first when he was demanding in bed I was flattered. He made me feel attractive, loved and wanted.
"He referred to himself as my superhero and I was swept away with the romance of it. He told me he and his wife's marriage was long over and she was moving out as she had met someone else. Soon he was spending most nights at mine.
"His sexual appetite refused to wear off and as well as demanding sex three times a day, if I popped in to see him at work he'd shove me up against the church vestry for a grope.
"It began to make me feel cheap. Then one day, I was at work when my phone beeped with another message from Russell.
"Instead of anything romantic, I was horrified to find an explicit photo of himself. He'd taken it in the church."
That night Jane confronted her lover about his worryingly strong libido and he just grinned, admitting: "I'm addicted to sex - what more can I say?"
Then, two months into their relationship in June 2006, she received a panicked call from Russell asking her to meet him after his Sunday service at Bromley Methodist Church in Kent, where he moved in August 2006.His wife was pregnant, he told her. But he claimed he couldn't be the father. "He said it was the final proof she was also having an affair," said Jane. Bates said he was demanding a DNA test, and his wife was finally moving out of the home they shared with their child.
Jane admitted: "I actually felt sorry for him having to face the public humiliation."
After his wife moved out of the marital home in August he began spending most evenings at Jane's home in Sidcup where her children Laurie, 22, and Jessica, 15, lived.
But occasionally he would invite her to his former marital home for a romantic home-cooked, candle-lit meal, the hearth decorated with banners saying "I Love You".
"He was full of sweeping gestures and although it wasn't exactly the counselling I had imagined, it was definitely taking my mind off the grief of losing Mum," Jane said.
"He loved the idea of being my superhero and his home was filled with Superman mementos as well as religious ones. He had lots of posters and even his mouse-pad had Superman on it. Once, in a sermon to his congregation he said Jesus was like Superman."
In October the pair booked a holiday for May 2007 to Ibiza. But before they set off, Bates's wife gave birth to a girl - Jane was horrified when DNA results proved he was the father. "I was devastated and couldn't believe he had lied," she said..
"He insisted they had only had sex once since the birth of their fouryear-old daughter and I stupidly believed him. I never would have got caught in the middle of a happy marriage. That's not my style."
The revelation all but destroyed Jane's love for him. But desperately trying to put her doubts behind them, Jane lay down some ground rules for their holiday together - as well as ordering him to have counselling for his sex addiction.
But the sessions didn't work - he began pawing her straight after take-off and continued for the whole week.
'The heat made him insatiable. I wanted to catch some sun by the pool but he just wanted me to stay in the hotel room all day and all night for sex," she said.
"I began to feel used. It was the only thing we ever argued about as even when I did get my way and grabbed a sun-lounger he'd grope me in view of all the other holidaymakers.
It was embarrassing." Then, after they had returned, Jane called at his house unannounced one afternoon in October. She found him with another woman.
"He wouldn't let me into the house so I went back to my car and waited and then I spotted him ushering her out. I was nearly sick.
"What had been going on suddenly hit me. I'd been completely duped by this supposed man of the cloth who had used his dog-collar to gain my trust and abuse me when I was at my most vulnerable. That moment was like a fog lifting. Everything became clear. I went straight to the church to tell them what he had done."
Just four weeks after dumping him, Jane was shocked when a friend told her Bates was on a dating website "looking for a fling".
Bates, who was ordained in 1998, was suspended in September last year and he later resigned his post after an investigation by church superiors..
He pleaded guilty to five charges including taking advantage of Jane during a pastoral meeting, cheating on his wife and failing to financially support his children. Church bosses also criticised him for causing Jane emotional stress. He was banned from working as a minister for five years.
Jane said: "I doubt I was the first and I definitely won't be the last. He has this sexual appetite that can never be satisfied and he'll tell whatever lie he needs to get you into bed.
"I am so sorry for the hurt I caused his wife and his children but I was in a bad place and I genuinely believed they were separated.
Bates's wife, the Rev Jo Thornton, declined to comment. Bates said Jane had made "lots of wild and false allegations" which had been revised before being put to him as charges.
He added: "I appealed against the charges and then accepted them and resigned. But the resignation was a separate thing. I decided it wasn't for me anyway."
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