Priest: I Had A Second Lover

A Glasgow priest who had sex with Angelika Kluk has admitted having another affair – with a church musician. Details of the sexual relationship between Father Gerry Nugent and Sarah Howie were revealed by the priest this afternoon at the High Court in Edinburgh.

It came a day after he admitted having sex with 23-year-old Angelika, whose body was later found under the floor at his church, St Patrick’s in Anderston, Glasgow.

Peter Tobin, 60, a handyman at the church, is on trial accused of raping and murdering Angelika last September and hiding her body. He denies all the charges against him.

Under questioning by defence QC Donald Findlay, the 63-year-old priest said his relationship with Ms Howie began around 1998, shortly after he arrived at the parish.

Father Nugent said: “Sarah and I had a sexual relationship and that stopped and consequently we just stopped talking.”

The court heard the relationship in 1998 or 1999 included an incident when he approached her from behind in one of the church rooms, put his hand on her backside and was told to “F*** off”.

Father Gerry said that following the end of the affair, he was no longer on good terms with Ms Howie, who played guitar at church masses. “We don’t get on,” he added. But he said there was “no reason for her to tell lies to the police”.

He repeatedly denied he had any knowledge of a “secret” compartment beneath floorboards where Angelika’s body was found last September 29 – less than a yard from his confessional box.

However, it emerged Ms Howie gave a statement to police in January this year, saying Father Gerry did know about the hatch. Mr Findlay read the court a police statement in which Ms Howie said that eight years ago she and a friend, Jean Phillips, had looked round the church for “secret passages”.

Ms Howie said they found two – one by an altar and one by the confessional box. In the statement, she said she then told Father Nugent about the one beside the confessional, and the priest jokingly replied: “Did you find any dead bodies?”

The court was shown photos of the hatch in the floor. But Father Gerry insisted he did not know it was there. “I know it must sound incredible, but I didn’t know,” he added.

In court yesterday, Father Gerry admitted he was an alcoholic and said he felt “guilty, ashamed, and disgusted” with himself for having sex with Angelika soon after she came to stay at the church during her summer holiday in 2005. Father Gerry also admitted buying Angelika a £1500 laptop computer, giving her money, and allowing her to use his credit card.

Angelika was studying languages at a university in Gdansk and and spent vacations in Scotland, working as a cleaner to help fund her course, the court heard. Father Gerry also told the court he had left St Patrick’s two weeks ago.

Archbishop Mario Conti had asked for his resignation. He said that officially he was still a priest in the Archdiocese of Glasgow, but was on sick leave and getting treatment for his drink problem, asthma and suspected multiple sclerosis.

The murder charge alleges that Tobin murdered Angelika between September 24 and September 29 in St Patrick’s Church, or elsewhere. He allegedly gagged her with cloth and tape, tied her hands, raped her, battered her with a piece of wood or something similar, and repeatedly struck her with a knife.

It’s alleged he then hid her body under the floor of the church in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice. In a “special defence” read to the jury, Tobin admits having sex with Angelika, with her consent.

A further charge – which Tobin also denies – alleges he told Glasgow police his name was Patrick McLaughlin, gave a false date of birth and address, and that he travelled to London and gave staff at the National Neurology and Neurosurgery Hospital in London another false name.

Tobin also denies a breach of the peace between July and September last year by threatening Russian student Rebecca Dordi at St Patrick’s Church.

The trial continues.