Perched on a rugged peninsula with sweeping views of the Atlantic and surrounded by moorland, the parish of Pendeen showcases the untouched beauty of Cornwall.
However, the tranquility of this secluded community was disrupted when the local vicar became embroiled in an unwanted situation with a married parishioner, leading to a court case this week.
The court heard how Reverend Karsten Wedgewood, feeling ‘exasperated,’ resorted to kicking 62-year-old Kay Carpenter while trying to remove her from his home, claiming she had harassed him for years.
Truro Crown Court learned that despite previous warnings to avoid contact, Carpenter visited his residence in June 2024.
The vicar recounted how his diocese was forced to install CCTV to document ‘any further intimidation on my doorstep.’
Carpenter, who is a trained teacher, was scheduled to stand trial at the court this week, facing charges of obstructing or assaulting a clergyman at a place of worship following an incident in March 2024 at St John the Baptist Church in Pendeen.
But after the prosecution offered no evidence, Recorder Christopher Quinlan KC held a hearing to explore whether to impose a restraining order on Carpenter instead.
On Thursday, the judge said he was satisfied that the facts of the case ‘amount to harassment’ and imposed a restraining order banning Carpenter from any contact with Rev Wedgewood, from going to his home or any of the three churches in the Pendeen area which he is in charge of.
Recorder Quinlan said Carpenter’s two year campaign had been ‘relentless, remorseless and repeated’ and left the vicar breathing a sigh of relief whenever she failed to attend his services.
Reverend Karsten Wedgewood was left ‘exasperated’ by his experience with Kay Carpenter, a judge said
Kay Carpenter’s two year campaign had been ‘relentless, remorseless and repeated’, the judge said
The restraining order will run for seven years and if breached, could see Carpenter face up to five years in jail.
She was formally found not guilty of the charge she faced, with the restraining order imposed on acquittal.
During the hearing, Rev Wedgewood told how Carpenter came to his home in June 2024, after she had already been told not to contact him or go to his house.
He said he gave her the opportunity to leave as she stood in his doorway, then used his foot to move her back.
Rev Wedgewood told Recorder Quinlan: ‘I used my foot and made contact with her stomach or hip area, the middle of her body.’
He said he did this so he could shut the door saying it was ‘a very stressful situation’.
The priest, who has served as the local police chaplain, said there had been years and years of problems with Carpenter which only stopped when she was bailed earlier that year.
The priest said he had been subjected to a cycle of contact from Carpenter which caused him anxiety.
Rev Wedgewood said in evidence: ‘I suppose we were going round in circles and not getting anywhere. She would write to apologise, frequent emails, and eventually an outburst, an apology or silence, and we went round like this.
‘It was clear these conversations were going in endless circles. I did not want to prevent her from worshipping. But I didn’t want to talk to her. Come to worship but not involved any further than that.’
Her constant emails arriving in the middle of the night lead to his ‘heart sinking’, he said.
Rev Wedgewood said Carpenter wanted to get more involved in the church but wanted to be an officer which the priest could not sanction as that was down to Parochial Church Council to authorise.
He suggested she volunteer making coffee, cakes or cleaning as a way of getting to know people in the church but said she felt this was beneath her.
He said Carpenter, of Trewellard, Pendeen, Cornwall, could not barge herself into an official position and claimed she became very angry when she thought she was the subject of a sermon he delivered on mediation.
The vicar said Carpenter became very angry when she thought she was the subject of a sermon he delivered on mediation
He told the court she would find any excuse to make an appointment to see him, despite him having 5,000 other parishioners to take care of.
Rev Wedgewood said since the bail conditions were imposed on Carpenter his life had changed in a good way, adding: ‘I just want to get on with my job and my life.’
Carpenter did not dispute sending the vicar emails and letters and visiting him on four occasions.
She told the court: ‘I should have ceased the communication. He was very angry with me on two occasions.
‘He left me in a flood of tears in the church once. I never wanted a leadership role. I wanted to be a lay reader. I was not a threat.
She said it wasn’t just the bail conditions that stopped her from contacting Rev Wedgewood.
She told the court she had been ‘trying to build bridges’, adding: ‘He is a vicar, a Christian person.’
Carpenter went on: ‘I wanted no further contact when he kicked me.’
But Rev Wedgewood said Carpenter’s ‘behaviour and attitudes’ were inappropriate and added: ‘It was nothing to do with whether I liked her or not. She did not have the skills or mental stability for any office as such.’
Urging the judge to impose a restraining order, prosecutor Ian Graham said there would otherwise be a clear risk of future harassment against Rev Wedgewood by Carpenter, who had previously ignored the warnings and advice given to her.
Sophie Johns, representing Carpenter, said the vicar and Carpenter are ‘clearly different personalities’.
She said that since being on bail in June 2024, Carpenter had not been in contact with the priest.
Recorder Quinlan said of her conduct: ‘It was relentless, remorseless and repeated, if not constant, it felt like it.
‘She did not desist in her contact by letters, emails, going to his house when told not to.’
Imposing the restraining order, Recorder Quinlan said Carpenter’s conduct had ‘both alarmed and caused Rev Wedgewood distress.’
He said without this order her behaviour would likely continue and she would not leave him alone.
The judge said the vicar came across as ‘considered, thoughtful and at times exasperated’ at his experience over the years with Carpenter. The clergyman believed Carpenter was obsessed with him, the judge said.
He said Carpenter, who attended court with her husband, Colin, felt ‘wronged and frustrated’ by what she saw as unfair and unjust treatment by the priest.
Pendeen lies on the Penwith peninsula in west Cornwall in a moorland setting steeped in mining heritage.
St John the Baptist Church was designed by local priest and engineer Robert Aitken in the 19th century and built using local granite.
