From The Daily Mail-
When her marriage fell apart and her sister died, Amanda Machin was left on the verge of suicide.
In her hour of darkness, the 50-year-old turned to someone she believed she could trust – her local Anglican vicar.
But, Mrs Machin alleged, the Rev Steve Rankin persuaded her to part with £160,000 and left her ‘penniless’.
The mother-of-one accused him of taking advantage of her depressed state, convincing her to sell her house and donate thousands to the Church and missionary trips.
She also agreed to invest £50,000 in a business venture with the ‘charismatic’ cleric which failed, she alleged.
‘He completely abused his position of trust,’ claimed Mrs Machin, a former hairdresser. ‘He was less like an Anglican vicar and more like a slippery businessman.
‘I was so low and believed he was the only one who could cure me, so I did whatever he said.
‘He has fleeced me out of thousands and robbed my daughter and I of our financial security.’
Mrs Machin said she quickly became ‘completely dependent’ on the vicar who, she said, told her to stop taking anti-depressants prescribed by her GP.
The minister told her he could cure her depression because it was caused by ‘demonic’ ties to her family.
Soon she was visiting his £550,000 vicarage at St Mary Magdalen Church in Sale, Greater Manchester, several times a week for ‘deliverance ministry’ from the father-of-three.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1301688/Mother-left-penniless-turned-CofE-cleric-hour-need.html#ixzz0wCzGonll
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