Kirk elder expelled over bullying email scandal

Published on Thursday 31 March 2011 18:53

A CHURCH of Scotland elder has been expelled from Glasgow Cathedral's kirk session after he was found to have bullied the minister.

An appeal to the Commission of Assembly, the Kirk's highest legal body, by Dr Gordon Wyllie against the charges and the Presbytery of Glasgow's decision to remove him from the kirk session was rejected yesterday. It is the first time the commission had ruled on a case of this nature.

After the hearing Dr Wyllie, a partner with the law firm Biggart Baillie, said he felt "unfairly done by the presbytery and the commission".

He added: "I was disappointed there was a lack of debate (today]. If the commission had had an opportunity to debate matters then there might have been a more measured view taken."

Mr Wyllie insisted he had no "sort of animus" towards the minister and had been trying to help him.

The Church of Scotland said the verdict showed the Kirk took a "zero tolerance" approach to bullying.

The court heard that a complaint by the minister of Glasgow Cathedral, Laurence Whitley, centred on five emails sent during a 14-month period starting in 2008 to various members of the kirk session concerning church business.

The contents of the emails, though referred to, were not divulged fully during the hearing, but had been judged to be proof of bullying and attempting to undermine the minister's position.

The decision to remove Dr Wyllie was originally taken by the Presbytery of Glasgow on 14 December following a report from investigating committee set up to examine the allegations.

However, advocate Ruth Innes, who represented Dr Wyllie, claimed the investigation committee had arrived at its decision by "misapplying law and misunderstanding facts and reaching conclusions that could not be reasonably arrived at given the facts in front of them".

She said, in the context of the full emails, Dr Wyllie's comments could not be construed as bullying and, given they did not directly attack Mr Whitley, in isolation they did not even fulfil the legal definition of bullying.

Responding to Ms Innes, Mr Kerr said part of the legal definition of bullying was that it could be judged to cause "distress to a reasonable person".He said that as Mr Whitley had been chosen above all candidates to be best suited to be minister of Glasgow Cathedral, he could be fairly described as a "reasonable person" and therefore fit to judge whether or not Dr Wyllie's emails had caused him "alarm and distress".

The commission then voted 60 to nine to reject the appeal and uphold the presbytery's decision.

Dr Wylie can no longer sit on the kirk session of Glasgow Cathedral but remains an elder.

In statement issued following the hearing, Presbytery Clerk of Glasgow, Angus Kerr, said: "The result from the Commission of Assembly sends a clear message that any behaviour of this kind will not be accepted by the Church of Scotland."