'40 DEMONS’ CASE

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33816, 12 April 1975, Page 9

'40 DEMONS’ CASE

Bishop bans exorcisms

ffi.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) LONDON.

The Bishop of Wakefield (Dr Eric Treacy) said that exorcism had aggravated the mental condition of Michael Taylor, the man who murdered his wife a few hours after being exorcised, and that all exorcisms had been banned in the diocese until a full inquiry had been held.

However, he would not be asking the vicar in the “40 demons” case, the Rev. Peter Vincent, to resign. “He has always been a sincere and conscientious clergyman,” the bishop said. “In this particular matter, he was misguided, but I continue to have confidence in him.” Taylor, aged 31, was committed to the Broadmoor Institution for the criminally insane last week, after being acquitted “by reason of his insanity.” He had admitted killing his wife with his bare hands. He was arrested later, wandering the streets naked and covered in blood. The Court was told that he had been “bewitched and demented” bv religion. Mr Vincent, of St Thomas’s Church, Gawber, Barnsley, and the Rev. Raymond Smith, a Bamsley Methodist minister, said that they expelled more than 40 demons from Taylor in the vestry of St Thomas’s.