Daily Mail
February 9, 2010
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1249545/Sex-mad-vicar-suspended-inappropriate-behaviour-woman-churchgoer.html
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| Reverend Stephen Smith said the incident had left him very upset. He said: 'It's very distressing and really it has been quite bleak' |
A ‘sex mad’ vicar has been suspended from duty for six months over claims of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ with a female member of his congregation, it has emerged.
A former girlfriend, Kerry Lansfield, is said to reported Reverend Stephen Smith to Church of England authorities.
Ms Lansfield said she suffered a nervous breakdown following his marriage to her love rival last summer.
Parishioners at St Mary’s Church, in Cardington, Bedfordshire, were told the news during a Sunday service.
In a statement read to churchgoers by acting Reverend Peter Littleford, church goers were told a complaint had been made against Rev Smith in August 2009.
It related to claims of an ‘inappropriate relationship with a female member of the congregation’, resulting in his suspension from church duties for six months.
Ms Lansfield said: ‘We had a two-year relationship but I suspected he had a secret girlfriend when I heard him blowing kisses down the phone.
‘I thought we’d get married. He was sex mad and often took me back to his vicarage for a “bit of the other”.
‘It was an intense sexual relationship but he felt guilty after we had been to bed.
‘He would start praying and say “Praise the Lord” for the tender moments we had shared together.
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| Stephen Smith with his wife Sue on their wedding day and lover Kerry Lansfield |
‘I was new to the church and felt a bit uncomfortable about it. But I trusted him and he totally betrayed me.’
She added: 'When I feared he had a secret girlfriend, I challenged him about it and he eventually admitted there was another woman in his life.
'I ended the relationship but was in a terrible state. He'd blank me in church and the congregation turned their backs on me.
'Then I learned he was getting married. I had a breakdown and, at my mother's insistence, I reported him,' she told the Daily Express.
A church source said yesterday that neither the vicar nor the woman had been married at the time the claims of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ occurred.
Speaking outside his vicarage home in Bedford yesterday Rev Smith said the whole incident had left him very upset.
He said: ‘It’s very distressing and really it has been quite bleak. I’m just trying to get on with things now and I’m leaving it for the diocese to deal with it.’
The revelations followed a February newsletter sent to all members of the congregation which claimed Mr Smith was taking time off because he was ill.
It read: ‘Sadly the first edition of 2010 comes to you without a leading article from our team vicar, the Reverend Stephen Smith.
‘At the time of printing Stephen is still unwell and under doctors orders to remain at home.
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| Stephen Smith with his wife Sue on their wedding day and lover Kerry Lansfield |
‘We send him our love and very best wishes for better health in the coming year.’
Margaret Nicholson, 57, who works in retail and lives in the village, said everyone had been stunned by Mr Smith’s suspension.
She said: ‘We are very shocked and nobody really knows what is going on.
‘He is a fun-loving jokey man but has never been untoward to any of us. He is a real gentleman.
‘He has never done anything to make me feel uneasy and it seems to me he is the victim of a woman scorned.’
A Church of England spokesman for the Diocese of St Albans confirmed Mr Smith’s ban came into force on Sunday, January 31.
He said: ‘The Bishop of Hertford, the Mr Christopher Foster, has heard the complaint under the legislation governing the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003.
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| Shocked flock: St Mary's Church in Cardington, Bedfordshire |
‘He determined the Mr Stephen Smith should be prohibited from exercising any functions as a member of the clergy for six months. This is a significant penalty.
‘A complaint was made against the Reverend Stephen Smith, Team Vicar in the Elstow Team Ministry, Bedfordshire, that his conduct towards an adult female member of his parish was inappropriate to the office and work of a Clerk in Holy Orders.
‘The public and the Church rightly expect the highest standards of behaviour from clergy and take seriously any falling short from these standards.’
The spokesman also confirmed police were not involved in the case and said it was likely Rev Smith would return to the church when his suspension expired.
St Mary’s has a chancel dating back from the early 13th century but the remainder of the church was built in 1901 thanks to the generosity of the local Whitbread brewing family.
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