Daily Mail
June 3, 2010
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1283645/Bishop-denied-affair-married-reverend-living-her.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
They always insisted that they had nothing more than a 'close working relationship'.
But two years after vigorously denying an affair, a former bishop is living with a woman vicar, it was revealed yesterday.
Carl Cooper quit as Bishop of St Davids, Pembrokeshire, in June 2008 amid frenzied rumours that he was romantically involved with Rev Mandy Williams-Potter.
 |
 |
| Affair claims: Mandy Williams-Potter and former bishop Carl Cooper denied they were in a relationship when she was his aide at St Davids Cathedral | |
The mother of two resigned as his chaplain and communications officer after 23 clergy signed a petition asking the Archbishop of Wales to establish whether the bishop had given 'just cause for scandal'.
The pair also announced that their marriages were over, but still maintained that they were not involved in any ' inappropriate' relationship.
However, records held by the Land Registry show the couple bought a house in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, South West Wales, for nearly ?200,000 in January.
An entry on the publicly available record shows that they hold a joint mortgage with the Monmouthshire Building Society.
A neighbour at the four-bedroom terraced home said they had seen them coming and going together and that they seemed like a 'happy couple'.
Rumours of a romance between the pair started in early 2008 when church officials in the diocese were told Bishop Cooper was a regular visitor to the home of 41-year-old
Mrs Williams-Potter while her husband was out working as a primary school teacher.
One neighbour said the bishop had visited Mrs Williams-Potter's home during the day for six months before they quit, often parking his car several hundred yards from his colleague's house.
In February 2008 the bishop, a father of three, announced he and his wife Joy were separating after 25 years of marriage. In a
letter to clergy members, he said: 'Sadly and tragically we have decided to separate. There is no one else involved on either side.'
 |
| St Davids Cathedral: Carl Cooper quit as Bishop in June 2008 |
Two weeks later Mrs Williams-Potter, whose children are 14 and nine, announced that she and her husband were also separating.
At the time, she issued a statement saying: 'I am not in an inappropriate relationship with Bishop Carl. There is no one else involved in the break-up of our marriage. The two marital breakdowns are tragically coincidental and not connected in any way.'
When he resigned, Bishop Cooper, who took up his post in 2002, retained his title but had to vacate the bishop's residence in Carmarthen.
By quitting, he avoided a formal hearing into the allegations by the church's provincial court.
The 49-year- old now works as chief executive of Powys Association of Voluntary Organisation.
His personal assistant at PAVO said: 'He doesn't wish to comment publicly on his private life.'
Mrs Williams-Potter, who since leaving the church has been working as a project manager for trade union Unison, did not respond to messages.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.