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Action for Children
UK News

Methodist abuse report: The victims

The review found a man in his 30s revealed that he was abused in the 1990s by a man who was until recently still working as a lay pastor and a youth worker in four different churches.

He's now been suspended and is being investigated by police.

The report also found a woman in her 50s claimed she was touched by a Methodist minister's husband in the 1970s when she was 12 to 14-years-old but it's unclear if action was taken.

The woman told the investigation she knew of at least one other victim.

Four other victims of a Methodist minister already jailed for sexual assaults on children were also identified.

In the late 1990s a minister was convicted of sexually abusing children but was found to be unwilling to acknowledge any need to change his behaviour, the report said.

It added that he was allowed to resign from the ministry but that arrangements were put in place to enable him to worship.

The review said this was unacceptable as the risk of abuse does not diminish with age.

It also found that safeguarding officers were called in to investigate when an abuser described as 'very charismatic and highly manipulative' was found to be worshipping at a Methodist church.

The man was jailed after being caught with indecent images of children on his computer when he was a youth worker within the Church, but later returned to a new parish.

The review also found a woman who claimed to have been raped in the early 1990s who was "highly distressed" by the reaction when she reported the attack to ministers.

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