SCOTLAND
Daily Record
By Lynn McPherson
2 Feb 2014
THE Catholic Church were yesterday accused by a priest of forcing him out his home – by changing his locks while he was on holiday.
Father Matthew Despard, 48, said he was “sickened” by the move, which came after he had previously changed the locks of the church-owned property when he was suspended in November.
He had refused to leave the home at St John Ogilvie, High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, despite being told to by interim bishop of Motherwell Joseph Toal.
It prompted the church to launch a legal bid against him to repossess the house in the name of his stand-in, Father William Nolan.
But Despard, who was alerted by his lawyer to the locks being changed while he was on holiday, says he had pledged to hand over the keys on his return from the break tomorrow
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