UNITED KINGDOM
Sunderland Echo
A JEHOVAH’S Witness whose sex crimes against a child were hushed up by the church has been jailed for 13 years.
Gordon Leighton admitted sexually abusing a child when he was confronted with allegations before church elders at Lambton Kingdom Hall in Washington.
The elders knew about the 53-year-old’s admissions for three years but refused to co-operate with the criminal investigation, saying that what they had heard was confidential.
Sentencing him at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Penny Moreland said Leighton had subjected his victim to “untold damage”.
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