Vindicated: the suspicious wife who accused minister husband of 7 affairs
Her finger-pointing tore their deeply traditional island community apart. But now a church court has found that he HAS sinned – and punished three of his mistresses
AS noon draws near on the Sabbath, the faithful of the Point Free Church on Lewis will hasten along in their Sunday best to answer the weekly call to prayer. A great many may find themselves shifting uncomfortably on their wooden pews beset, as they must be, by unusually troubled minds. On all sides, they will be confronted with reminders of their collective anguish – in the averted gaze of fellow worshippers and the unfamiliar presence in the pulpit.
Normally, their ‘superstar’ minister, the Reverend Dr Iain D Campbell, one of the brightest stars in the Free Church of Scotland’s firmament, would have acted as their spiritual guide.
But at tomorrow’s midday sermon, others will deputise for Dr Campbell, whose sudden death in January left his shell-shocked flock reeling from a crisis to truly test their faith.
The furore which engulfed them followed the Daily Mail’s revelation that Dr Campbell hanged himself after being accused of having multiple, simultaneous affairs with several female members of the same wider church.
At the time, the anger caused by these accusations was palpable. When his accuser turned out to be none other than his own 54-yearold widow, Anne, the vitriol could barely be contained.
Far from being offered tea and sympathy following her loss, Mrs Campbell found herself on the end of a mauling for daring to trash her late husband’s reputation and, by extension, the church whose grip on Lewis is as significant as it is controversial.
Only in February, church elders were debating ‘impure and devilish’ proposals to allow the local swimming pool to open on Sundays. Even hanging out washing on the Lord’s Day is considered a sin in this Hebridean outpost of moral rectitude. Adultery, not to mention suicide, is beyond the pale.
When Dr Campbell’s death was first announced, his church hoped to keep a lid on the scandal. The first anyone knew of suicide came after a small announcement in the parish newsletter on January 22 stated simply that he was ‘unwell’. Six days later he was dead.
As hundreds gathered for his funeral and shops closed for the day out of respect, there was no mention in fulsome tributes that this hugely popular and internationally renowned theologian had killed himself in hospital while being treated for an overdose.
How could this 53-year-old fatherof-three – married for 30 years and a charismatic speaker who joined his beloved church as a 14-year-old – ever have contemplated such a desperate act?
Initial reports claimed that Dr Campbell was crippled with guilt after being confronted by his wife over seven affairs she suspected him of having with parishioners after finding ‘evidence’ on his computer. She then demanded church authorities investigate his double life and expel the women. Once she lodged a formal complaint, the church was forced to act.
Stories emerged of a furious confrontation at the manse shortly before his suicide when a cuckolded husband and his wife are said to have challenged the minister over his behaviour.
Incredulous defenders of Dr Campbell laughed off claims of serial infidelity, pointing out that everyone would have recognised the well-known car of the wellknown minister a mile off, and remarked upon any regular visits to a married churchgoer’s home in her husband’s absence. After all, among an island population of roughly 19,000, everyone seems to know everyone else’s business.
Retired customer services manager Torquil Macleod, a longstanding friend of the minister, condemned the desecration of his friend’s good name.
‘Iain was one of the most respected men I ever met. There was no suggestion of affairs,’ he said. ‘A jealous wife can always misconstrue anything. Anne is a very difficult person,’ he added darkly.
There were other claims, too, that Dr Campbell’s affairs spanned two decades, not only on Lewis, but on the Isle of Skye, too, where he was pastor for seven years in the Nineties, and also in Manchester, and London, where there is a Free Church congregation.
Some whisper of an illegitimate child. And there is also talk of an addiction to online pornography, as if his name could not be dragged down any further.
Yet, by the end of the inquiry, it is Mrs Campbell and not those who dismissed her accusations as fantasy who may feel vindicated.
Worse for the church, the tortuous manner of its investigation has held the strict religious beliefs and arcane practices of a denomination often pejoratively referred to as the ‘Wee Frees’ up to unwanted public scrutiny. Dr Campbell’s alleged mistresses were brought before a powerful church court, which takes matters of ‘fornication and adultery’ extremely seriously.
In a process likened by critics to the Salem witch trials of 1690s puritan America, an all-male panel of ministers and elders, following strict rules laid out in the Book of Church Order of the Free Church, known as the Blue Book, sat in judgment of their womenfolk.
Led by Reverend James Maciver, minister of Stornoway Free Church, and involving ministers and elders of the kirk session, the Western Isles Presbytery investigation took statements and cross-examined witnesses before ‘judges’ delivered their verdict.
There is a right of appeal and the procedure is voluntary, but those who fall foul of the Blue Book’s rules face public shame and suspension from religious rituals. Earlier this week, the panel concluded its probe by condemning its own minister’s conduct as ‘contrary to the Word of God’ and ‘seriously inconsistent with that expected of a Christian minister’ – a strongly worded rebuke which reinforces allegations of sexual impropriety.
Furthermore, three women from two separate congregations on the island have now been disciplined. In the most serious case, one unnamed female churchgoer, who is thought to have admitted her part in Dr Campbell’s infidelity, was suspended from ‘sealing ordinance’ for a year, during which time she will be excluded from receiving communion.
The other two wrongdoers were admonished and rebuked before the kirk session – effectively a stern ticking off for their behaviour.
Announcing the outcome in an interview on BBC Radio nan Gael, Mr Maciver acknowledged the distress the case had caused, but insisted there ‘was no cover-up nor thoughts of a cover-up’.
He said: ‘Though ministers have been accused of knowing something was going on before, we knew nothing till after he had died and it was the family who brought accusations to the Presbytery.’ One
‘Believe demonic and evil forces are at work’ ‘It would have been ideal cover for assignations’
islander, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I could not believe it at first. There was never a whisper of scandal. But on reflection, questions do arise. A few years ago, after he had turned down a promotion, he became a fanatical cyclist and runner, always out in his Lycra gear. He even did a sponsored cycle. I’m thinking now, that out on the road, in the hills, out of mobile contact and out of sight… It would have been an ideal cover for assignations, even for one of the best-known men on the island. He could have been leading a complete double life.’
Even now, though, the exact nature of the minister’s misdemeanours remains shrouded in secrecy. One islander said: ‘There is great confusion as to what, exactly, these woman have actually been found guilty of doing.
‘But a central complication is that kirk session business is strictly confidential; no one involved can discuss it or confirm anything.’
A secretive, male-only court judging the behaviour of women might sound positively medieval to outsiders. Although the names of the women involved are an open secret on Lewis, no one is prepared to disclose their identities. The Mail is aware of their names but has chosen not to publish them.
While their presence in church may cause the congregation to awkwardly avert their eyes, they can, at least, sit on a normal pew.
Not so long ago, sinning members of a Free Church congregation would be ordered to sit on a three-legged ‘stool of repentance’ in full view of the congregation for services week after week.
The Free Church of Scotland remains at its strongest in the Highlands and islands. It has 80 ministers and around 12,500 followers attend church every Sunday, but the congregation has long been riven by infighting between hardliners and those who wish to modernise.
In 1996, Free Church of Scotland minister Professor Donald Macleod was acquitted of sexual misconduct against four women. His supporters alleged the claims were made against him because he had liberal leanings.
Those who stick to the old ways insist that a wife should do as her husband commands, women should not wear trousers in church and children should not play with toys on a Sunday.
Such values certainly seem to have caused clashes with Mrs Campbell, who had never been a traditional ‘manse wife’.
Anne and Iain grew up on Lewis and met at school. Their playground romance blossomed into marriage which lasted three decades and produced three now grown-up children, Iain junior, Stephen and Emily.
Mrs Campbell had her own career as a special needs teacher on the island and supporters of Dr Campbell say he often had to do the shopping and cleaning, despite a busy schedule that saw him lecturing at the Westminster Theological College in London, where he was a professor, and further afield, as well as preaching at two churches on Lewis.
For most women in Britain that will sound like the modern way, with a man expected to share housework with a working wife. But such tasks are not seemly for a married minister of the Free Church.
Despite the domestic interruptions, Dr Campbell also managed to edit the glossy Free Church magazine and was a respected and gifted public speaker.
He gave little sign of his inner troubles, although last year he gave a sermon about marriage, which may offer an insight into his own union. He said: ‘I know, as both a husband and a minister, marriage is demanding work. I also know that some marriages do not work, for a variety of reasons.
‘I know the devastation and hurt that come when marriage relationships are jeopardised and compromised.’
On January 22, he was admitted to Stornoway Hospital after reportedly taking an overdose. Subsequently, he was found hanged at the hospital. He was transferred to Glasgow for specialist treatment, but pronounced dead on January 28.
His initially unexplained death ‘cast a gloom over the island’ not known in nearly a century, it was said. Then talk emerged about the adulterous affairs. Friends were later astonished to learn flowers had been stripped from Dr Campbell’s graveside at Sandwick Cemetery.
Family friend Mr Macleod said: ‘It’s just so sinister. Nobody ever heard of anything like that. It seems someone doesn’t want his memory celebrated. I really don’t know what’s going on. The death notices put up to advertise the funeral just called him Iain D Campbell, not Reverend Doctor.’
In the wake of the furore, Mrs Campbell fled to stay with friends on the mainland, but has since returned. She has quit the manse at Point for good, though, swapping it for a home closer to Stornoway and attaching herself to a different congregation.
Despite repeated requests made through a public relations firm working for her, she has declined to discuss the claims at length. A spokesman said: ‘The family would like to thank the Free Church for their support. This is a personal matter for the family and they have asked that they are allowed to grieve in private.’
Dr Campbell’s mother, Lily, a widow, and his sisters Alma and Meg – herself married to a Free Church minister on Skye – have declined to comment on Mrs Campbell’s allegations publicly.
A senior minister in the Free Church, the Reverend David Robertson, an old friend of Dr Campbell, insisted the modern church looked more kindly on women led astray by a minister who admitted their sins.
Sadly, sinning is to be expected, he said: ‘We believe in total depravity – not that every human being is as depraved as they can be, but rather that sin is in every human being and infects every part of our lives. We believe that there are demonic and evil forces at work, always seeking to disrupt, devour and destroy.’
How, one wonders, will such fire and brimstone help the congregation at Point tomorrow as they pause to reflect on the tragic events that consumed their own minister?
‘Flowers had been stripped from the grave’