Victory In Kirk Sex Case Battle

For nine long years she fought the might of the Church of Scotland – a battle which took her to the highest court in the land. And yesterday Helen Percy was celebrating a substantial 11th-hour out-of-court settlement in her claim for sex discrimination against the Church.

Miss Percy found herself at the centre of one of the Kirk’s biggest scandals after having a sexual encounter with a married elder, Sandy Nicoll, while serving as a an associate minister at the rural parish of Kilry, Perthshire.

In June 1997 she was suspended from the Kirk and subsequently resigned, citing pressure from the Church.

But she claimed the Church would have treated her differently if she had been a male minister, and began a legal fight that would take her to the House of Lords.

Yesterday, the Church of Scotland admitted it had settled her claim. “The matter was settled out of court. The matter is now closed,” it said.

Speaking at her lawyer’s office in Blairgowrie, Miss Percy yesterday said the battle had taken its toll, but she would not rule out returning to the Church.

“I feel vindicated, but I never thought it would take so long. There were moments when only the support of my friends and lawyer kept me going. There were times when I did not want it to continue, when I did not want to continue on this earth,” she said.

Miss Percy, who has supported herself tending sheep on a friend’s farm, doing babysitting and care work in the parish where she worked as a minister, said the settlement freed her to think about her future.

“I would like to have my ministry back, or another one,” she said.

“Yes, my faith was shaken. There was a long period when I no longer saw a reason to believe. But I’ve come to realise that being there for people when they no longer have reason to believe is what being a minister is about.”

When she launched her legal challenge, Miss Percy could have had no idea of the bitter battle that awaited her.

She had been suspended from her post with the six parishes around Glenisla as innuendo and gossip about her relationship with Mr Nicoll spread.

Her unconventional ministry had already raised eyebrows, but it was her self-confessed illicit liaison with Mr Nicoll which brought her into open conflict with the Church.

The intervention of Mr Nicoll’s mother, in a letter to the presbytery claiming the pair were having an affair and that Miss Percy was unfit to be a minister, brought the matter to the attention of Kirk authorities.

Miss Percy maintained she had sex with the former farmer only once, and that was without her consent. She rejected the presbytery charges, but indicated she was prepared to admit to a charge of improper conduct.

Police later interviewed Ms Percy and Mr Nicoll over the rape claims, but no action was taken.

Mrs Percy then took the church to an industrial tribunal, claiming she had been constructively dismissed from her post.

But in 1998, an industrial tribunal refused to hear the case, saying that because it was against the Church of Scotland, her complaints were “matters spiritual”.

She took her case to Scotland’s highest court, the Court of Session in Edinburgh. There, judges ruled that her duties as a minister were “essentially spiritual” – in effect, she was a servant of God and not subject to protection in employment law.

She appealed all the way to the House of Lords.

Miss Percy’s counsel, Susan O’Brien, QC, argued that the Kirk “had not taken similar action against male ministers known to have had, and still having, extra-marital sexual relations”.

In what was regarded as a landmark ruling earlier this year, five law lords overturned the ruling, deciding that the Kirk had to explain its employment practices before a civil court.

The judgment left her free to sue for compensation.

But on the eve of her employment tribunal hearing in Dundee, the Church settled.

Miss Percy said the motivation for pursuing her case was “righting” a flaw in the Church’s discipline procedure.

“There are so many people at grassroots level in the church who are gracious and compassionate. The problem is with the higher echelons, who set themselves up as potentates.”

Miss Percy said: “I now know what it’s like to be at the mercy of a system rather than to be valued as an individual. The positive side is that people who might not have approached the church have confided in me because they are aware of my experiences. This can only be a good thing.”

One woman’s nine-year wrangle with the Kirk

In 1997 Helen Percy was suspended from her post as associate minister for the six parishes in the Angus Presbytery. She was accused of having an affair with Sandy Nicoll, a married church elder.

June-December 1997 – Angus Presbytery carried out six months of investigations.

2 December 1997 – the Presbytery minuted and did not dispute Miss Percy’s statement that this “single sexual encounter” was “without her consent”.

A Presbytery press release then deleted the reference to the sexual encounter taking place without her consent.

As a consequence of that omission, Miss Percy lodged a complaint of constructive dismissal and discrimination with the civil courts.

The claim was opposed by the Church on the grounds of its alleged exclusive jurisdiction. A few months later she resigned.

In 1998 she failed in her bid to have her case heard at an employment tribunal.

The Kirk’s “special position”, enshrined in legislation from the 1920s, was later challenged at an Employment Appeals Tribunal. It upheld the Kirk’s right to decide its own affairs.

In 1999 the General Assembly rejected a petition for the case to be heard at an ecclesiastical trial.

In 2001 an appeal to the Court of Session was rejected.

October 2005 – case heard before the House of Lords who ruled in her favour. The proceedings were remitted back to the employment tribunal to determine a sex discrimination claim.