Vicar, 78, EXPELLED after claiming meth helped him relate to followers

A vicar who claimed his crystal meth habit helped him relate to his parishioners has been expelled by the Church of England.

Police raided the home of Rev Geoffrey Baulcomb, 78, and found a stash of the Class-A drug along with the tranquilliser ketamine.

He accepted a police caution for possessing the substances and told church officials he had been buying and using drugs, including heroin, ‘periodically’ for 20 years.

Baulcomb retired from the historic St Mary the Virgin church in Eastbourne, East Sussex, several years ago, but was still an ordained priest at the time of the offence.

The CofE’s disciplinary tribunal ‘utterly rejected’ his claim that taking drugs ‘assisted him in carrying out his pastoral mission’.

Rev Geoffrey Baulcomb had told church officials he had been using drugs for 20 years

Retired vicar Rev Geoffrey Baulcomb, 78, who claimed his crystal meth habit helped him relate to his parishioners, has been expelled by the Church of England. Pictured: St Mary the Virgin church in Eastbourne, East Sussex where he was formerly appointed

Police raided the vicar’s home and found a stash of the Class-A drug methamphetamine along with the tranquilliser ketamine (file pic)

In its judgment, the panel said Baulcomb had argued that ‘experimenting with drugs or providing a venue at his home for drug taking better enables him to relate and minister to people’. 

It added: ‘The Tribunal considered [his] attempt to justify drug taking as a part of his ministry as entirely misconceived, displaying a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of his Holy Orders.’

Police found the drugs at Baulcomb’s £250,000 cottage near Eastbourne in December 2022. 

He told church officials: ‘I purchased drugs periodically over the last 20 years. I was offered and accepted a simple caution. 

‘The small amount of crystal meth found was purchased last May and I sampled a small amount.

‘I totally accept I was wrong to have them. I am only too well aware of the high standards of my calling as a priest.’

He also admitted injecting himself with heroin on an earlier occasion in the presence of the drug dealer who had supplied it.

He later asked the Church for mercy on the grounds that it was part of his mission from God.

The CofE’s disciplinary tribunal ‘utterly rejected’ Baulcomb’s claim that taking drugs ‘assisted him in carrying out his pastoral mission’ (file pic)

Police found the drugs at Baulcomb’s £250,000 cottage near Eastbourne in December 2022 (file pic)

Parishioners last week stood by their ex-priest. One said he gave engaging sermons. 

Another said: ‘He obviously needed help.’

Baulcomb was handed a permanent ban from any position in the Church. It comes two months after former Co-op Bank boss Paul Flowers, an ex-minister nicknamed the Crystal Methodist for his drug use, admitted swindling a friend out of £100,000. 

He faces jail when sentenced next month.