Revealed: How Secret Church Report LED to Rapist Minister Bryan Gates Being Jailed for 15 Years
By P Cullinane
Shamed Methodist minister Bryan Gates was arrested for historic sex offences - years after church leaders carried out their own investigation into his sordid past. The 63-year-old retired in 1998 and had previously raped a woman in Stoke-on-Trent during his time at Longton's Central Hall. He was one of 1,885 people investigated by the Methodist Church after concerns were raised about their past. Now Gates has been jailed for 15 years after being convicted of one count of rape and two counts of attempted rape. It has emerged Staffordshire Police approached his victim after being handed the church file. Judge David Fletcher told Gates: "You are frankly an embarrassment to the church for whom you worked. You should be deeply ashamed of the behaviour and the offences you perpetrated." He added: "Your victims were complying with the police's inquiries as opposed to them making a conscious decision to make a complaint about your behaviour. "You became a superintendent minister when based in this city. You had responsibility for thousands of members of the Methodist Church, a pastoral responsibility, the responsibility to set an example and to live in the way, Sunday after Sunday, you required people to live their lives. You were living a totally different life. "You lied during the investigation and you lied during the currency of these proceedings. That is not the short of behaviour I would have expected from someone who had the background you had." Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Gates also abused a second person. He was convicted of three charges of indecency with a child and two offences of indecent assault. Frederick Powell, mitigating, said: “He realises he has brought disrepute to the whole of the Methodist Church. He accepts his actions will have repercussions. He is a broken man." It is understood the review into Gates's past was carried out in the late 1990s. But the Methodist Church only shared its findings with Staffordshire Police as part of its 2013/15 Review of Past Safeguarding Cases. The overall independent review looked into allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse within the Methodist Church from 1950 to 2014. A Methodist Church spokesman said: “Bryan Gates resigned as a minister in 1998. As part of the church's 2013-2015 Review of Past Safeguarding Cases, further information about Mr Gates's resignation was put forward and this was passed to the police. Since then, the church's safeguarding team has been working with the police and other relevant authorities to provide information and support to the investigation. “The Methodist Church takes the safety and well-being of all people very seriously and strives to continually improve its stringent safeguarding and supervision procedures." Gates, who was living in Liverpool, must remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for life. Staffordshire Police today revealed it is becoming more common to investigate sex crimes reported by third parties. Detective Inspector Zoe Kelsall said: "We are very grateful for things like past-case reviews or other third parties to help us. The third parties help to bring these cases to our attention, especially with historic cases. "It does not matter how long ago such crimes occurred because we are committed to carrying out a detailed investigation with the utmost sensitivity to bring offenders to justice."
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