The LICQUOR of Dibley??

The swinging 'Vicar of Dibley': Clergywoman kicked out over wife-swapping and drunkenness

By Beth Hale, Andy Dolan and David Wilkes

Last updated at 10:09 AM on 12th November 2008

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From the moment she roared into the quiet village of Welton on her motorbike, the vicar caused quite a stir.

Parishioners soon realised that she had a lust for life - and many hoped she would use that to 'change perceptions of religion'.

But unknown to her flock, the Reverend Teresa Davies was directing her passion towards other activities.

The mother of two was a swinger, going on wife-swapping holidays with her husband Michael.

The swinging vicar: Teresa Davies with her husband Michael

Unfortunately, after a clergy Christmas lunch, she let the news slip.

Her secret life soon became parish gossip and the Church was forced to investigate.

Now Mrs Davies has been banned from any role in the clergy for at least 12 years by a disciplinary tribunal, for failing to comply with high standards of Christian behaviour.

The 37-year-old has left the Northamptonshire village and is believed to be working elsewhere as a primary school teacher.

Her unexpected confession came at the end of the lunch in a local pub restaurant in 2006.

Mrs Davies told the remaining two guests that she had spent holidays without the children in an area of the South of France notorious for wife swapping.

Starting out: Teresa Davies, centre, during her ordination ceremony at Worcester Cathedral

She said the couple 'sought sexual gratification in this way, and felt no guilt because both partners had agreed to taking part'.

An investigation was launched and Mrs Davies was suspended in May last year, resigning in August this year.

The tribunal earlier this year heard how the Reverend Peter Davis gave her a lift home after the pub conversation.

He told the tribunal she said to him: 'I think I have said too much.'

The tribunal judgment reveals how on the same day, December 18, Mrs Davies sent an email to the Reverend Owen Page, vicar of nearby Daventry telling him she had 'probably loaded you with too much information'.

Then it was discovered she and her husband were registered on a website for swingers, where they were known as 'Tess and Mick, Daventry'.

Reverend Teresa Davies's former church, St Martin's in Northampton

When quizzed by her superiors, Mrs Davies said she was trying to be ' laddish' and 'shocking' and that, while a flirt, she had never had a sexual relationship outside marriage.

At first she claimed the website details - stretching to 12 pages - had been written by her husband, an IT consultant.

But when she appeared at the closed hearing, arriving from her Birmingham home on motorbike, she conceded they related to her as well.

The judgment also noted how she was drunk at a string of church services in late 2006, at St Martin's in Welton and at Holy Cross, in Daventry.

At one choral evensong in September she was in charge of the choir, but when she arrived dishevelled and smelling of alcohol the choir 'fell apart' under her direction.

'Musically it was chaotic and deeply embarrassing,' the judgment stated.

Then at an Advent service in December 2006 three fellow ministry members noted that she smelled 'strongly of alcohol'.

Teresa Davies said alcohol was her 'self-destruct' button

She admitted to the tribunal she had declined an offer of professional help for her drinking and said that alcohol was a 'self-destruct button'.

In its conclusion, the tribunal said: 'The tribunal has absolutely no doubt that on December 18, 2006, the respondent made the claims attributed to her.'

It added that her behaviour was 'scandalous'.

Mrs Davies became a vicar in the Daventry team ministry in June 2006, taking responsibility for the parish of Welton. She sat as a governor on the board of the village primary school.

At the time, she lived four miles away in Daventry, in a four-bedroom home provided by the diocese.

Last night former neighbours remembered her as a jovial cleric who 'liked a drink' and was 'always good fun'.

One said the vicar was a 'lovely lady' whose unconventional lifestyle left her ideally placed to 'change people's perception towards religion'.

Mrs Davies refused to comment as she arrived at her home last night.