Tribunaltold groupprayed for removal of evil spirits

Sacked managerwas not reason for gathering at Arbroathcentre says witness

Arbroath Town Mission directors stood outside the centre and prayed God would rid it of evil spirits after the sacking of an employee.

The events were contained in minutes taken from a board meeting in August which emerged during an employment tribunal hearing in Dundee on Monday.

Wilma Swankie, who was named Arbroath’s Citizen of the Year in 2015, is suing Arbroath Town Mission on the basis she was fired for going to the Scottish charity regulator OSCR.

Miss Swankie was dismissed in July 2017 and solicitor Nick Whelan said the next month’s board meeting discussed two subsequent resignation letters from members in response to her sacking.

Mr Whelan read out a section from the minutes to the centre’s current manager, Moira Milton, who was giving evidence beforeemploymentjudgeIanMcFatridge.

He said: “Dave (Webster) said there was something heavy over the Mission and Derek (Marshall) felt an invisible line between the Mission and the centre whenever he came into the building.

“The battle was not against flesh and blood but was a spiritual battle and Derek suggested that we go around and pray for it to take it back.

“The members then all went around the building, the garden, and the garden room, and prayed that God would remove all evil from the place and fill it with His Holy Spirit.”

Mr Whelan asked Mrs Milton: “Was he (DerekMarshall)referringtoWilmathere?”

“I don’t know who he was referring to,” she replied.“What were you praying for?”heasked.

“That the Lord would remove any obstacle and that the Holy Spirit would be free to do whatever was God’s will.”

“Was the evil you were referring to Wilma?” asked Mr Whelan.

“No,” she said. “There’s a spirit world, there’stheDevilandthere’stheHolySpirit.”

ShedeniedanyonewassuggestingMiss Swankiewasevilandinsisteditwas“quite normal” for people to pray and ask God to remove a “dark evil spirit”.

Miss Swankie, who had been employed by the organisation since 1987, brought the action on the basis of the Protected Disclosures Act which provides protection for whistleblowers.

Miss Swankie raised concerns with OSCR that it was a requirement in the constitution that Town Mission members belonged to a church, despite this position being confirmed in a board vote.

OSCR did not uphold Miss Swankie’s complaint but she was subsequently sacked from her job as centre manager.

The tribunal on Monday heard Miss Swankie was offered a chance to resign before she was sacked for “bringing the organisation into serious disrepute.

Wilma Swankie, the former centre manager at Arbroath Town Mission, has taken her former employers to a tribunal.