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	Menace to Women Exclusive: Evelyn Tells How Her Family Were Conned by 'Predator' Mother's Fury after Sex-Mad Priest Seduces Daughter By Janice Burns Glasgow Daily Record [Scotland] March 6, 2006 http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16778040 &method=full&siteid=66633&headline=menace-to-women--name_page.html THE distraught mother of Father Flash's latest conquest last night accused him of conning her whole family. Retired teacher Evelyn Gilbert, 54, thought Father Roddy MacNeil was a rock her family could lean on but now says he is nothing but a sexual predator and a menace to women. The devout Catholic widow feels MacNeil wormed his way into the bosom of her family when they were at their most vulnerable and betrayed their trust. Evelyn believes her husband Stephen died of a broken heart just 13 weeks ago after finding out about his most trusted confidant's affair with his beloved daughter Jennifer. She almost lost her daughter when the family home turned into a "war zone" of arguments after Jennifer revealed the relationship four months ago. Now furious Evelyn is planning to get a legal order banning MacNeil from contacting her family. She said MacNeil had pestered her because of her efforts to get him stripped of his priesthood. She said she is terrified that he will seek revenge for reporting him to his bishop and getting him suspended. MacNeil's lovey-dovey text messages to Jennifer took changed to menacing ones after she made it clear she had ended their affair. The couple had a brief meeting at her behest at Jury's Pond Hotel in Glasgow a fortnight ago. She said: "I arranged for a faceto-face meeting to tell him once and for all that it was over." Jennifer added: "He told me he couldn't live without me but we went our separate ways." However, within hours, she was receiving texts from MacNeil in which he hit out at her for ending their affair. He also made disparaging remarks about her mother, calling her comments "vicious venom". Jennifer said she was shocked at the change from his previous "loving" text messages. She said: "It disturbed me the way he seemed to be trying to turn me against my mother. It made me realise how stupid I'd been to get involved with him." Last night, furious Evelyn said: "I want an interdict taken out on him. "It is the only way to make sure we are safe from him. I don't want him anywhere near us. "I was frightened but haven't reported him to the police yet. "I want him thrown out of the Catholic Church. He is not fit to be a priest. "I know he blames me for ruining his career and that's why he has turned on me. "I will never forgive him for betraying our trust and destroying our lives. "He is a sexual predator who destroys everything that is good. He needs to be stopped. "He once told me, 'Pray for me... I'm all prayed out.' "I just hope he is all 'preyed' out and that by exposing this man we can stop him ruining other people's lives. "He nearly destroyed us but we have fought our way back. "He tried to take my daughter away from us but he has lost. "My husband felt totally betrayed by a man who was supposed to be a friend for 14 years and a priest. "MacNeil always waited until we were at our most vulnerable. "On the night of my husband's funeral, he took me aside and told me that he planned to marry my daughter and do the right thing. By then, I knew he was a liar and a cheat and I went straight to the bishop about him. "I couldn't stand back and let him destroy what I had left in life." But when Evelyn and her husband Stephen, a business lecturer at a college in Glasgow, met MacNeil 14 years ago, they believed him to be a genuine, caring Christian. Evelyn first met the charming priest when she took her sick mother on a Western Isles pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1992. MacNeil was the chaplain and he played the part of a perfect priest, giving advice and support and encouraging Evelyn to confide in him. Still struggling to get over the death of her baby daughter Julie at just four months in May 1989, Evelyn found MacNeil a tower of strength. He would talk for hours about how lucky the couple were to have such a beautiful, loving daughter in Jennifer. Evelyn said: "I cannot believe I was taken in by him. "All the time, he was using us to get to our daughter. "I cannot believe we didn't see it. We never had any suspicions. Why would we? He was a priest, for God's sake. "The whole family confided in him. I trusted him straight away and I told him about the tremendous guilt I was feeling at losing my baby daughter. "I told him I thought it was somehow my fault that Julie was born four months premature and he was an amazing comfort to me. "He knew all the right words to help ease the pain. "He would say how lucky we were to have Jennifer, to have such an open, honest daughter who confided in us." Evelyn agreed when MacNeil invited her and Jennifer to his church house for summer holidays to give her a break from caring for her sick mum. He asked if he could join them on a family holiday to Spain and they welcomed him with open arms. They treasured his friendship so much that they spent more than ?1000 on every colour of priestly vestments for him. The family were always doing him favours and spending their hard-earned cash on the priest. MacNeil was a close friend of Princess Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd. Evelyn said she remembers MacNeil called her up to ask her to buy a book of remembrance after Diana's death for parishioners to sign. She said: "He made you feel that you were privileged, that you were asked to help him out. "I went to tremendous lengths to fly the book up to Barra for him. Then one day, he called to ask if we could sent ?160 worth of flowers to Barra immediately because he had forgotten to order them for the church in time for the Easter Sunday service. "We had them flown from Glasgow Airport. We used our own money and didn't get a word of thanks from him. "On another occasion, he phoned to ask if I could buy him a ?20 bottle of Lancome shampoo from House of Fraser and send it up. "We were starting to feel we were being taken for granted but we still did it. We were damn good to him. "He was always asking for favours and we were happy to oblige him because we trusted him, which makes his betrayal even worse." Neither Evelyn nor Jennifer Gilbert has been paid for their interviews. SORDID TALE OF FATHER FLASH'S FALL FROM GRACE THE Record broke the story of how "Father Flash" was suspended from the priesthood after claims of an "inappropriate relationship" with a woman. Roddy MacNeil was told by his bishop to quit his Western Isles parish, Our Lady Of The Sea, on Barra, in December. His flock were not told about the scandal. Instead, they were told that their popular priest, renowned for his sharp dressing and suave manner, had "taken time out to reflect on the future of his priestly vocation". But the real reason the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, IanMurray, had suspended him was because he was having an affair. It later emerged that the woman MacNeil had been romantically involved with was his first cousin Hilda Robertson. Hilda fell pregnant in September last year. The baby is believed to be MacNeil's. He had conducted the wedding ceremony when Hilda married James Robertson in 1984. But she was seduced by the priest after she turned to him for comfort asher brother was dying. Hilda fell in love with MacNeil and eventually left her husband to live with the priest on Barra. MacNeil, 46, went missing when rumours of the relationship began to circulate on the island before Christmas. Hilda suspected MacNeil was cheating on her. And last month it emerged that he had also been dating 22-year-old student Jennifer Gilbert. The priest, who was a friend of Princess Diana's late mother, Frances Shand Kydd, is in hiding while Catholic Church chiefs decide on his fate.
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