The police failed me, claims vicar stalked by widow for a year
A VICAR stalked by a widow for 13 months says his congregation halved after she spread rumours about him when he rebuffed her “infatuation”.
The Rev Graham Sawyer, 56, has now criticised the police for taking more than a year to intervene, despite his repeated pleas, saying that their actions failed both of them.
He was bombarded with hundreds of emails, gifts and unwanted attention from the woman after her husband committed suicide. But when he contacted the police he was passed from one officer to another and at one point it was suggested that they could prosecute him for wasting their time.
The vicar at St James Church in Briercliffe, Lancs, has now received an apology from police, but said: “I would never go to Lancashire Police again for help after this.
“The police failed me, my church and my stalker. Things need changing so others don’t face the same issues.”
He said the woman started stalking him in early 2014 after “her husband killed himself in the most appalling, sudden and violent circumstances”.
He provided pastoral care as part of his priestly responsibilities, but her demands for his attention kept growing, and she would also hang around the church early “in an attempt to catch him on his own”, shower him with gifts, and stare at him during services.
The woman rang him “day and night” and sent about 500 emails until the situation “became impossible”.
He believes “that gave a pseudo-legitimacy in my stalker’s mind to turn their positive infatuation for me into a very negative one and that’s when it turned very, very nasty”.
His congregation nearly halved when
‘It was a hate campaign and it became a mob mentality to get rid of me’
between 20 to 30 people stopped attending his church after his stalker spread rumours about the reverend in his parish.
“It was a hate campaign and it became a mob mentality to get rid of me. Had I not been supported by my parish officer I am sure I would have gone under, it was truly terrible,” he said.
One parishioner falsely claimed that he had said in a meeting: “You will never get rid of me unless you catch me with my trousers down.”
Mr Sawyer first reported the crime in November 2014. “I first called the police and sought their help 13 months before they actually did anything.
“Lancashire Police made matters exponentially worse for me, my congregation and also for my stalker because the most important thing to do with any stalking incident is early intervention – it nips it in the bud.”
Mr Sawyer also said an officer went “behind my back to my bishop” to suggest the vicar may be charged with wasting police time.
The stalking stopped “immediately” in Dec 2015 once the woman was given a harassment warning notice and he “bears no ill will whatsoever towards her now”.
“I can truly say the situation has been redeemed but we have gone to hell and back,” he added.
Mr Sawyer said his congregation was now “starting to recover” and is “quietly growing” following the incident.
Terry Woods, the force’s assistant chief constable, said: “While this particular case was some time ago and our practices in dealing with such cases have moved on, we acknowledge that the level of service provided to the victim in this instance fell short of what could be expected and we apologise for that.”