Church apologises over priest in Kluk murder
Pastor Dale Morgan
Church apologises over priest in Kluk murder*
By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:59am BST 05/05/2007
Catholic leaders apologised last night for the conduct of the priest who
claimed to have slept with the murdered Polish student Angelika Kluk.
Fr Gerry Nugent revealed the affair at the trial of convicted paedophile
Peter Tobin
Mario Conti, the Archbishop of Glasgow, said Fr Gerry Nugent's behaviour
had fallen "well short" of the standards expected. The Church also
revealed that Fr Nugent, 63, had previously admitted an "inappropriate
consensual sexual encounter" in 1993.
The apology came after a convicted paedophile was found guilty of the
"inhuman" rape and murder of Angelika. Peter Tobin, 60, attacked her
with a table leg and a knife. He then tied her up, raped her and dumped
her body in a makeshift tomb under the floor of St Patrick's Church,
Glasgow. Tobin was on the sex offenders register but was working under
an alias.
He was jailed for life at the High Court in Edinburgh and must spend at
least 21 years in prison. Although he has a serious heart condition and
is unlikely to live long enough to be set free, he case is likely to
prompt calls for stricter control of known sex offenders.
The judge, Lord Menzies, told Tobin that he was "an evil man" and that
his crime was an atrocity.
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He added: "In the course of my time in the law I have seen many bad men
and I have heard evidence about many terrible crimes which have been
committed. But I have heard no case more tragic, more terrible than
this. Any case of rape is serious. Any case of murder is serious. But
what you did to Angelika Kluk was inhuman.
"To bind her hands, gag her so tightly that her face was misshapen when
her body was found, to rape her, beat her about the head with a table
leg, fracturing her skull, stab her repeatedly and then drag her through
the church and dump her body under the floorboards as so much rubbish.
This shows utter contempt for the life of an innocent young woman."
Miss Kluk was staying at St Patrick's for the second summer in a row as
a guest of Fr Nugent.
She fell in love with Scotland during a visit in 2004 and came back for
the next two summers to earn money to fund her studies in Gdansk.
Her sister, Aneta, 28, who works in Glasgow as a secretary, shouted
"thank you" to the jurors as they left court at the end of the five-week
trial.Miss Kluk's married lover, Martin Macaskill, 40, a chauffeur she
met while they were showing Russian tourists around Scotland, wept as
the verdict was announced.
Peter Tobin was jailed for life for the murder and 'inhuman' rape of
Angelika Kluk
He raised the alarm last Sept 25 when she failed to return his calls and
joined police searching the church.
The jury heard lurid details of Miss Kluk's private life, including her
relationship Fr Nugent, who was said to be "incandescent" over her
affair with Mr Macaskill.
The priest will be sentenced next week after being found guilty of
contempt of court during the trial for giving contradictory answers.
Tobin, masquerading as Pat McLaughlin, painted a shed with Miss Kluk on
Sept 24 shortly before he launched his attack. But he left a print on
the tape used to gag her.
In 1994, Tobin imprisoned two girls, aged 14 and 15, in his flat in
Havant, Hants, raping one and sexually assaulting the other. He went on
the run for a few months, using the cover of a false name and the
church, before being caught and given a 14-year sentence. He was freed
after 10 years and came to Scotland.