Kirk convener says report on child sex trafficking is a 'wake-up call'
A report from the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People on Child Sex Trafficking in Scotland must be a wake-up call to everyone in Scotland, according to the Convener of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council. The report by Tam Baillie calls on the UK Government to encourage more inter-agency co-operation and [...]
Cardinal visited killer Riggi in hospital
The leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland visited a woman who killed her three children after she had been charged with their murder and was being assessed in a psychiatric unit, it has emerged. Cardinal Keith O’Brien made the “private pastoral” visit to Theresa Riggi, 47, while she was being monitored in the Orchard [...]
Church of Scotland teacher banned for assaulting vulnerable boy
A teacher who assaulted a vulnerable pupil at a Church of Scotland school after an argument over a packet of crisps has been banned from the profession for life. Ian Paterson lifted the 14-year-old boy – named as Pupil A – off the ground and violently threw him to the floor during the altercation at [...]
'Mum … your husband is a paedophile priest'
Joan Clayton was sitting on the veranda at her villa, overlooking the beautiful Atlantic under a clear blue sky, when her son showed her an article that would destroy her holiday – and Joan’s life as she knew it, writes Nic North. She had arrived in Lanzarote just days earlier with her husband, Bill Carney, [...]
Call for Old Firm matches ban by police officers' leader
Police Federation chairman Les Gray believes scrapping the fixtures is the only way to stop the "murder and mayhem" that regularly follows the games. His call comes with another match between the clubs just two days away. After last weekend’s derby there were so many arrests every police cell in Glasgow was full within four [...]
Obituary: The Right Reverend Derek Rawcliffe
The Right Reverend Derek Rawcliffe, who has died aged 89. was Bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church’s diocese of Glasgow and Galloway from 1981-91 and before that spent more than 30 years in Melanesia, becoming the first Bishop of the New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, in 1975. None of this excited any great interest, though his [...]
Check your oil, churches told, as thieves target liquid assets
Churches are coming under a battery of attacks from thieves who are targeting not only lead and copper from the church roof, but also heating-oil from the tank. An increasing number of churches are finding that their heating system has broken down, and, when this is investigated, discover that fuel has been drained from the [...]
Buckfast chief gets a 50% pay rise as sales of famous tonic increase
The highest-paid boss at the firm behind Buckfast has seen his pay packet rocket by more than 50 per cent as sales of the tonic wine continue to climb. The un-named director, likely to be the long-standing MD Tony Joyce, received a £293,180 package last year – up from £189,120 the year before – as [...]
Child-porn arrest: Oviedo man also accused of sex attacks on missionary kids in Africa
An Oviedo man with past ties to church missions in Africa was arrested by the FBI on child-pornography charges Friday. The arrest of Samuel Shamba Warlick comes three months after the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) published a report unrelated to the FBI case accusing Warlick of sexually abusing children at a housing facility for missionary families [...]
Church offers reward for return of Moderator’s ring
The Church of Scotland is offering a reward for information that leads to the safe return of the Moderator’s ring. The oval ring was stolen from the home of the Rt Rev John Christie in Helensburgh between the hours of 11pm on 23 December and 4:30am on 24 December, along with a number of family [...]
