Deacon’s wife comes off medication to discover he was having affair

‘ She was in a rage. She threatened to gouge his eyes out… Mr Foley locked himself in the bedroom’

THE wife of a Roman Catholic deacon discovered he had been cheating on her when she stopped taking medication which had left her “almost comatose” for years, a court has heard.

Linda Foley, 68, had been married to the Rev John Foley for 50 years when the “veil was lifted from her eyes” and she learned of his infidelity. She was so enraged on discovering his affair that she physically attacked him at their home, leaving him with a cut ear, a black eye, a cut to the bridge of the nose and a bite to his arm.

Reading Magistrates’ Court heard how Mrs Foley had been “quiet and submissive” for many years after taking strong medication for post-traumatic stress disorder that she suffered from as a result of an abusive childhood. Rev Foley, who was ordained as a deacon in 2006, was a foundation governor at St Finian’s Primary School in Cold Ash, chairman of Churches Together in Burghfield, Sulhamstead and Mortimer, and the deacon of the West Berkshire Pastoral Area for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth.

At a sentencing hearing, Anne Sawyer-brandish, prosecuting, told magistrates: “There were seven incidents which required police assistance where the aggrieved was attacked and physically assaulted. It’s fair to say he has been having an affair, which caused problems between the two of them.”

Ms Sawyer-brandish said: “She was in a rage. She threatened to gouge his eyes out and wanted to kill him. Mr Foley locked himself in the bedroom.”

Andrew Storch, defending, said his client had been taking strong medication that had left her in a “submissive and unquestioning state”. When she stopped taking it, he said, “she saw her husband had been having an affair for the last few years”.

Magistrates imposed a 12-month conditional discharge. They also ordered Mrs Foley to pay a statutory victim services surcharge of £20 but no costs due to her means.

Finally, they imposed a restraining order preventing her from entering their former home or from contacting her husband for 12 months.