A SHERIFF has been urged to give permission for the Catholic Church to evict a priest who is at the centre of a row with senior church figures.
Father Matthew Despard, 50, is involved in a long-running dispute over a book he wrote alleging a gay mafia was operating at the top of the Church.
Fr Despard was ordered to leave his home at St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, but refused, disobeying the wishes of the Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Toal.
Bishop Toal told Fr Despard to leave the house in November 2013 but the Church later launched a legal action to evict him.
Church lawyers have now called on Sheriff Joyce Powrie to grant an order forcing Fr Despard to leave the property.
Advocate Marie Clark told a civil hearing at Hamilton Sheriff Court he had no 'right' to be in the house.
She said: "The principal submission is that the pursuers have the right to the chapel house and the defender has no right to occupy the house.
"I ask you to grant decree and award the pursuers the property at St John Ogilvie in Blantyre.
"There may be a rich factual landscape but this belies the simplicity of these proceedings and that is that the pursuers have the right to the house.
"The defender has no right to remain but refuses to leave.
"Alternative accommodation has been offered to him but has been refused.
"He continues to reside in the chapel house despite this offer of alternative accommodation and he has refused to cooperate even though he has no right or entitlement to reside there."
Earlier hearings had been told the property had been 'booby-trapped' by Fr Despard with jars of curry powder being placed above doorways.
Ms Clark added: "This involved booby trapping doors in the house and barricading them with corrugated sheet.
"Glass jars were also placed on top of doors and these were designed to fall on those entering and it was admitted in evidence that those jars contained curry powder.
"It took considerable effort to overcome these measures and the obstructions sought to impede the administration of the parish."
Fr Despard had earlier told the hearings a 'crisis' in the Catholic Church provoked him to release his controversial book.
He said the resignation of Cardinal Keith O'Brien and a lack of leadership from senior church figures led to him publishing, Priesthood In Crisis.
Cardinal O'Brien resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct from three priests and one former priest.
He said: "A lot of people were very let down by the senior figure of the Catholic Church in Scotland and they were looking for some counsel.
"There was no communication from the hierarchy. I had written the book three years previously and had approached publishers but no one would touch it.
"When this happened I thought it would be an idea to put it out to give people some counsel."
Lawyer Hugh Neilson is expected to make submissions for Fr Despard next month after Sheriff Powrie adjourned the hearings until March 17.
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