Jesus Army Survivors group on 'mixed' emotions to final redress report
The report found there were 539 alleged perpetrators and hundreds who suffered sexual abuse dating back to the 60s and 70s, but it's feared there are many not coming forward.
A member of the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association has been giving us her reaction to the final report from the redress scheme to compensate victims associated with the Northampton sect.
It found there were 539 alleged perpetrators and hundreds of people who suffered sexual abuse dating back to the 60s and 70s, at the group known as the Jesus Army headed up by the late Noel Stanton.
A scheme to compensate those who suffered abuse found that there were 319 victims.
Philippa Barnes of the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association says the effects of the report are far reaching:
"All I wanted for everyone was to have their voices heard. We've been shut down and covered up and manipulated into being quiet all these years, because they would never let an investigation take place.
"Finally we've got that, and if anybody has got anything from that, it would be validation and knowing that they're not alone."
A solicitor for more than a hundred victims of the Northampton based Jesus Fellowship Church feels there may be some victims that never get justice.
Kathleen Hallisey is a Senior Associate in the abuse team at Hugh James Solicitors who's representing over a hundred of those affected.
"We're looking at people who not only suffered sexual abuse, but also physical and severe emotional abuse.
And so there will be some people for which it just wasn't possible to come forward and tell their story to the scheme because it was just to painful and traumatic."
She has commended the work of the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association which has continued to push for justice over the last decade.
Meanwhile Philippa told us there are questions still surrounding how few people faced legal repercussions over their abuse. To date only 12 have been convicted.
"Hardly anybody has been prosecuted. I know that the criminal threshold is really high for prosecutions. But, there's so many allegations, against so many people... there were only ever around 3,000 people who were members."
A Northamptonshire Police spokeswoman said: “We have been engaged in the Jesus Fellowship redress scheme for a number of months now and no new offences have yet been identified.
“We do a have a process in place should any new offences come to light and any suspects identified through the redress process will be looked into using police systems with any appropriate safeguarding actions carried out as a result.”