A CHURCH minister received a message, but it didn't take him long to realise it wasn't heaven sent.

The Rev Vernon Marshall, of Wilton Street Chapel, Denton, spent eight years working on a doctorate in philosophy with the Open University when disaster struck. It was almost complete when he received an e-mail on his home computer.

But with it came a virus which corrupted all his files with text written in Portuguese. For somebody who regularly preaches to his parishioners that patience is a virtue, Mr Marshall, of Grenville Street, Dukinfield, said his own was tested to the very limit.

He said: "To say I was distraught is putting it mildly. It was almost finished, but now there's no way I'm going to meet my October deadline. I've spent hours on it each week, but the virus means that I've got to go through it all, taking out the Portuguese. It's just a nightmare - each chapter is about six times longer than it should be."

He admitted that the experience has taught him about the importance of putting things into perspective. "For the first week after it happened I hardly slept, but then I realised that I could not let it get the better of me. I am in reasonably good health, I have a loving wife and daughter. Things could be a lot worse."

The 48-year-old minister is no stranger to education. A theology degree, a master of arts in pastoral studies, a certificate of education and a diploma from the English-speaking board are just some of the academic qualifications he has under his belt.