Bristol Evangelical Church Attempted to Cover up Pastor's Sexual Abuse of 14-year-old Boy
By Emma Grimshaw
An Evangelical church left a 'significant delay' in reporting one of its pastors had sexually abused a 14-year-old and a senior leader tried to persuade the boy's family to drop the allegations an inquiry concluded. Bristol Community Church, based in Kingswood, has been blasted for a series of errors which amounted to serious misconduct and failure to protect its young and vulnerable member. The results for the long-awaited inquiry into the church, which last year changed its name to Bourne Christian Centre, were published on Friday. In 2012 the church's pastor James Hennah, who also worked as a magistrate and a Bristol Grammar School counsellor, pleaded guilty to abusing a boy after befriending him and his family at a church group he ran.
Hennah was handed a suspended sentence and ordered to sign the sex offender's register.after admitting two offences of sexually touching a child and one of voyeurism between 2008 to 2010. The inquiry, conducted over a four year period by the Charity Commission, concluded there was a 'significant delay' between the family reporting the abuse and the church alerting the relevant authorities. It also highlighted one of the charity's senior bosses put pressure on witnesses to withdraw the claim. The report found the church's recruitment practices were 'inadequate and presented risks' to its vulnerable members. And the charity had an 'inappropriate level of skill and awareness of safeguarding among the team'. The inquiry highlighted a senior pastor was arrested by police for witness intimidation and perverting the course of justice. No charges were eventually brought against him but a disciplinary hearing conducted by the church concluded there was 'gross misconduct' on the part of the senior pastor, who attempted to get the family to drop the allegations. Michelle Russell, director of investigations, monitoring and enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: "This case is a reminder to charities that work with children and vulnerable people, that it is essential that they have adequate safeguarding policies and procedures which reflect both the law and best practice. "Even more importantly though, where incidents occur or allegations are made, charities must ensure safeguarding issues are taken seriously and dealt with promptly in accordance with those policies and procedures. "Where a safeguarding incident happens, the commission expects trustees to report these to the appropriate statutory agencies such as the police, local authority, and to the commission as a serious incident as soon as possible after the incident occurs."
A spokeswoman from the church said: "Once they were involved, the trustees followed clear advice, given by the Charities Commission, Local Authority Designated Officer and Churches Child Protection Advisory Service, in order to ensure compliance with legal obligations and our own Child Protection policy. "We confirm that those involved in the mishandling of these allegations are no longer part of our organisation, the new trustees and leadership team put a lot of effort into sorting this difficult situation and have worked hard and changed the culture of the organisation. "The trustees and leadership of the church take safeguarding very seriously and have put in place clear processes and robust policy, so that everyone has a good understanding of how to safeguard our children and young people, in all of our ministries." Read more: Remarkable tale of Lola the missing cat, the smitten garage staff and her Bristol adventure The charity adopted an action plan to address the 54 recommendations from the commission's review. The organisation's inquiry was spread over four years as it continued to monitor progress at the charity.
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