A Stonehaven church minister has been arrested and charged after £1,500 of cocaine was uncovered during a raid of his property, The Press and Journal can reveal today.
Police rammed through the front door of Reverend Mark Lowey’s home at the Fetteresso Church manse after receiving intelligence.
Inside they found Class A drugs and Rev Lowey, 52, and a 20-year-old man, were both arrested and charged.
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland confirmed: “Around 8am on July 16 2024, officers acting under warrant searched a house in South Lodge Drive.
“A quantity of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than £1,500 was recovered.
“Two men aged 20 and 52 were arrested and charged in connection with drugs offences.”
On July 17, Lowey appeared in private at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where the minister made no plea and was bailed for further examination.
The charge details will be revealed once his case is indicted and recalled to court for a public hearing on a date still to be decided.
More than two weeks on, the manse’s front door is still bearing the scars of the police raid.
Parishioners, who had volunteered to maintain the manse garden, remained tight-lipped about the incident when asked about the damage.
At the time of his arrest, Rev Lowey, a father-of-three, was on long-term sick leave from work.
An interim moderator had already stepped in to cover his absence at Fetteresso Church, although he remained a resident of his parish’s manse.
Following the raid, Lowey has not returned to the manse, which was built in the year 2000 and borders the school playing fields of Mackie Academy.
A Church of Scotland spokesperson said: “Rev Mark Lowey, minister at Fetteresso Church in Stonehaven, has been off long-term sick and is now suspended from ministry pending disciplinary proceedings.
“As such, we are not in a position to comment further at this time.”
Church minister previously worked for addiction charity
Lowey began work to qualify as a minister in 2006, gaining an SVQ III in management to get into the International Christian College in Glasgow.
He later attended The University of Edinburgh where, in 2010, Lowey gained his Bachelor of Divinity degree with honours.
In the same year, he started the position of assistant minister at Palmerston Place Church in Edinburgh.
After 16 months there, Lowey moved on to become the minister at East Kilbride’s South Parish Church.
The induction of Rev Lowey to the charge of Stonehaven Fetteresso Church took place on January 14 2021 in a virtual ceremony during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He relocated to the north-east with his family.
Lowey grew up in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, but spent three years of his life living in Wales.
Before that, he resided in the Scottish Borders and went on to live in Edinburgh.
Lowey was appointed director of a registered charity called Teen Challenge Strathclyde in February 2018, “challenging addiction and offering hope to the vulnerable and socially marginalised” through outreach work.
The charity’s website also explained: “The organisation is based on Christian values and beliefs providing a positive answer to the current addiction problem.”
Lowey resigned from his position at the Central Belt organisation on July 18 last year.
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