Current Affairs

UK: Christian preacher who banned gay couple from sharing a bed exposed as love cheat

Jul 22 2013
Written by Scott Roberts

A married Christian preacher, who believes it’s permissible to discriminate against same-sex couples on the basis of religious belief, previously bombarded a domestic abuse victim with text messages of a sexual nature.

Father-of-four Mike Wilkinson, 58, is the husband of Susanne Wilkinson, and earlier this month she lost her latest case at the Court of Appeal.

Mrs Wilkinson and her husband refused to let Michael Black and John Morgan share the same bed at The Swiss Bed and Breakfast in Cookham, Berkshire, during March 2010.

Mrs Wilkinson lost her case against the couple for the first time in October 2012 and both men were awarded £1,800 each at Reading County Court for “injury to feelings”.

However, she has refused to end her legal fight and has now taken the case to the Supreme Court.

In an expose, The Mirror reports Mr Wilkinson bombarded Sacha Williams-Rowe with “saucy” text messages when she sought comfort at his church after being stabbed by her ex-boyfriend.

He sent the 32-year-old hundreds of texts, saying he wanted to give her the “biggest, longest, warmest most exciting hug ever and kisses everywhere you allow”.

And he told her: “I love you sooo much. I couldn’t sleep properly. Kept thinking of you and squeezing my pillow.”

Ms Williams-Rowe told the Mirror that he would lace his texts with religious verse, including: “O Happy Day when Jesus washed my sins away!” Ms Williams-Rowe accepted his “miracle” offer to pay her rent arrears because she needed a house, but added: “Mike said ‘I need to know one thing, that this will be yours and mine secret. My wife must not know’.”

In a mea culpa to the paper yesterday, Mike Wilkinson said: “I developed feelings I shouldn’t have. I got too close.”

Refusing to step down from his Buckinghamshire church, a spokesman said he would remain in his role after “an extended period of absence”.