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Church of England
UK News

Priest receives lifetime ban from ministry for affair with married parishioner

Revd Simon Sayers, 55, began the secret relationship with the woman nine years ago, after she approached him for pastoral support.

Mr Sayers, formerly of the Warblington with Emsworth parish in Hampshire, sent her "many sexually explicit texts," a Church of England tribunal heard.

"You too are the most passionate, sexy, skilled and sensuous lover and my body is yours, my heart and soul are yours forever," the priest wrote in one message.

Mr Sayers admitted to the affair in a letter to the panel hearing, which he did not attend.

The Church of England found him guilty of "conduct unbecoming or inappropriate to the office and work of a clergy person in that he had an intimate sexual relationship with a married woman to whom he was giving pastoral support and failed to observe and maintain appropriate pastoral boundaries".

Mr Sayers expressed his regret at "betraying his calling" and apologised to his wife for breaking her trust for a second time: "I can offer no excuse, only my profound sorrow for betraying my wife and my calling once more after that terrible incident in 1995," he said.

In 2016, the Church of England suspended Mr Sayers from ministry for five years, following an investigation into inappropriate behaviour with a 16-year-old girl while serving as a vicar in Islington, north London in 1995.

The Metropolitan Police also investigated the allegations, but no criminal charges were brought against him.

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Portsmouth, where Sayers had been based, said he will no longer be able to work as a Church of England clergyman, saying: "The penalty reflects the seriousness of this misconduct. The Church of England takes all allegations of misconduct seriously."

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