Preacher ‘had affairs with seven women’

By Will Humphries
Times
March 7, 2017

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/preacher-on-sin-was-a-serial-adulterer-x6w7dh3qk?shareToken=c161d4a10e6ccca1c0b0d7e8e7674c8e

The Rev Iain Campbell, who was head of the Free Church of Scotland, has been accused by his wife Anne, above, of committing adultery among his flock

A church minister who killed himself has been accused by his wife of having affairs with seven of his congregation, it is claimed.

The Rev Iain Campbell was head of the Free Church of Scotland and a Presbyterian scholar whose recorded sermons were listened to by thousands of followers around the world.

His death in January aged 53 shocked devout communities on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, where the Sabbath is strictly observed.

Hundreds would gather to hear Mr Campbell, a father of three, deliver 40-minute sermons on the perils of sin and the sanctity of marriage, but now the Free Church of Scotland is investigating allegations said to have been made by his wife, Anne, 54, that he had committed adultery among his flock. The church, which has about 15,000 adherents, said that it was taking the allegations very seriously and would act on them.

A source told the Daily Mail: “It is said Anne was suspicious about Iain’s activities and confronted him, allegedly after finding compromising emails in his trash files. After first taking an overdose, he hanged himself in hospital in Stornoway. He died later in Glasgow. He is now accused of up to seven affairs, all with full church members.

“Anne is wanting all this to go in front of a church court and for them to throw them out of the church for adultery. It will cause havoc with their marriages and the entire Free Church.”

Mr Campbell, who wrote a book in 1999 entitled The Doctrine of Sin, was minister of Point Free Church, and tributes to him came from around the world after his death.

A public relations professional hired by Mrs Campbell did not deny any details of the story, but said: “The family has lost a husband and father.”

The Rev David Robertson, a former head of the Wee Frees, as the church is known, called the allegations shocking and dreadful and said, if true, they would mean that his friend had been guilty of hypocrisy. He said that church leaders would offer pastoral care to anyone who had committed adultery and that there would not be a “witch-hunt” to find those involved and excommunicate them. “I have found it all difficult to believe,” he said.