UNITED KINGDOM
Hartlepool Mail
A former Jehovah’s Witness has won an international award for highlighting potential sex abuse risks within the church.
Steve Rose, from Rift House, Hartlepool, has received a Courage Award from the organisation Silent Lambs for campaigning against practices that he says make it difficult for allegations of child and other sex abuse to be uncovered or acted upon.
Mr Rose, 51, spoke out in an article in the Mail in November about a “two-witness rule”, which says Jehovah’s Witness church elders are not allowed to take action against allegations of wrongdoing unless it has been witnessed by at least two people.
Mr Rose, who used to be a member of Hartlepool’s Kingdom Hall, in Ashgrove Avenue, also raised concerns that convicted sex offenders are allowed to remain part of the church.
He was also interviewed by a national newspaper and featured in an article on an American website about allegations of cover-ups within the church.
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