'Sex-change' vicar's suicide pact

Olwen Savage supports her husband (Picture, The Journal)

A former Northumberland vicar, who is to undergo a sex-change operation, confessed he and his wife had once considered a suicide pact.

Father-of-two Mark Savage, 48, who is now known as Helen, quit the parish of Bedlington to undergo NHS treatment.

The Anglican bishop of Newcastle and Helen's wife of 15 years Olwen, have supported the decision.

But the vicar of 10 years said that during a low point in 2003, the married couple considered killing themselves.

Speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle, Helen said: "Last summer, Olwen and I were so low that we even, on one occasion, talked about suicide.

I desperately wanted to be a girl, but have come to understand that I'm a funny old mixture of things Helen

"We very quickly withdrew from that, because neither of us wanted to do that to the people who mattered to us, we just couldn't do that.

"But we were that low that it scared the living daylights out of both of us."

Helen quit as the vicar of St Cuthbert's Church in Bedlington, saying she suffers from a condition known as gender dysphoria.

Helen said she felt she "should have been a girl" from the age of about three.

Helen Savage, formerly known as Mark Savage (Picture, The Journal)

She said: "I can remember from when I was around three or four, feeling that something was really wrong and I really perhaps ought to have been a girl.

"I desperately wanted to be a girl, but have come to understand that I'm a funny old mixture of things.

"I remember talking to my parents about this and say I wanted to wear girls' clothes. But my mother told me to go away in case people thought there was something wrong with me."

Helen said Olwen had "always known" about her gender dilemma.

She said: "When we first met 25 or 27 years ago, people didn't really understand this problem.

Speech therapy

"But I felt I could not enter a relationship with Olwen without being honest with her.

"And although I desperately wanted to be a girl, I also found them attractive.

"And somebody came along that I cared for deeply, in the shape of Olwen and I was totally honest with her about how I saw myself."

Earlier, Olwen, a 49-year-old special needs teacher, said: "I still feel as committed to Helen as I ever did.

"I am still dedicated to my husband and I am getting used to calling him Helen."

Helen has had electrolysis to remove facial hair and speech therapy.

Full sex-change surgery is expected to be carried out by surgeons in Edinburgh.