Vicar, 53, has baby with barmaid of 27
It’s what God intended, she says – but he gets 2-year ban
A BARMAID who had a baby out of wedlock with a vicar twice her age said yesterday that the child was ‘what God intended’.
The Rev David Huntley, 53, was sacked over his affair with Charlene Goudie, who became pregnant weeks after he fell in love with her as he helped her prepare for baptism.
Miss Goudie, 27, yesterday defended her relationship with the vicar, saying they are ‘madly in love’ and planning to marry.
Shortly after she was baptised, she and Mr Huntley were caught together late at night by the father of her two other children, Kevin Scott. Mr Scott, 30, thumped the vicar and stormed out, leaving the new couple to sleep together for the first time, a church court heard.
Miss Goudie claims she had ended her relationship with Mr Scott by that time. The vicar, who is divorced and has a grown-up child, was suspended after he wrote to his archdeacon telling him his new girlfriend was expecting a baby.
He said: ‘I have been growing close to one of my parishioners, which has gone further than it should and she is now pregnant.’
Mr Huntley immediately moved out of the vicarage next to St Lawrence the Martyr Church in South Shields, South Tyneside.
A church disciplinary tribunal later handed him a two-year ban for having sex outside marriage.
Neighbours said yesterday that Mr Huntley now spends most nights at Miss Goudie’s house, one mile from the church. The relationship started when the couple began meeting in restaurants, where they would ‘chat for hours’. Miss Goudie said yesterday: ‘I became giddy and my heart skipped with excitement when I knew we would see each other. David expressed the same love and feelings for me.
‘Then, as we are only human, one thing led to other, we did not plan this neither did we expect it to happen, it just happened.’
Miss Goudie had a contraceptive coil fitted but said it slipped out of place and she became pregnant. She gave birth to her daughter with Mr Huntley in October last year.
‘We together made this tiny helpless life, one of God’s children, our child,’ she added. ‘No matter what the situation, this happened and we had been blessed and this child is what God intended.’
Miss Goudie claimed she felt bullied by the church. ‘I felt as though it was a game to them, but it was our life they were playing with,’ she said. ‘Trying to enjoy the pregnancy while being made to feel like scum was difficult but we found a way of sharing the experiences ... and it made us stronger.
‘I felt so awful I even offered to disappear, but through every stage of this David tells me how much he loves me and how glad he is to have me. We still worship together as much as we can and are settled in an amazing church. Our only crime was to fall in love. We are definitely getting married.’
Miss Goudie added: ‘We now accept the penalty for our actions and are truly sorry for the way things went.’ Referring to other media reports, she added: ‘David is not a “randy reverend” and I find that so offensive. No one got caught in the act by anyone. The court did not hear of such a thing as a “late-night clinch”.’
The Diocese of Durham said: ‘The Church will always act where the conduct of its clergy is not becoming of the office they hold.’
Mr Huntley’s predecessor at St Lawrence the Martyr, Rev Martin Wray, quit after he was pictured at a ‘tarts and vicars’ party dressed in gold tights, a black dress, pink high heels and a long black wig.
‘David is not a randy reverend’