UNITED KINGDOM
Shields Gazette
CHURCH officials in the North East hushed up a child sex scandal in their congregation and refused to co-operate with the police, a court heard.
Jehovah Witness ministerial servant Gordon Leighton admitted sexually abusing a child when he was confronted with allegations by elders at his church, but during a police investigation, the 53-year-old, who hit the headlines in the 1990s when his wife Yvonne, 28, died after refusing a blood transfusion on religious grounds, denied any illegal wrongdoing.
When detectives asked elders Simon Preyser, Harry Logan and David Scott to make statements about the confession, they refused and said what they had heard was confidential.
The elders refused to co-operate with the criminal investigation and kept that stance when the case was brought before Newcastle Crown Court. Each was issued with a witness summons and were ordered to testify by Judge Penny Moreland after months of legal wrangling.
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