Keeping people safe has been neglected at Hockliffe Street.

For many years they completed no formal safeguarding training and many people looking after children were not DBS checked.

The leaders have derided their own Safeguarding Policy, calling it a ‘secular’ document and telling members they should follow the bible instead.

We have heard from those who have attended the church that:

• Threats of sexual assault within the church were covered up and not treated correctly by the leadership. The mother of a child who was messaged for sex by a man in the church felt bullied out of the church when she asked the leadership to deal with it.

• A woman was given an older male ‘mentor’ who acted inappropriately towards her. The leadership knew he had behaved inappropriately before.

• A couple were, on the basis of gossip, incorrectly accused of being in an inappropriate sexual relationship. The leadership then called another church to pass on this gossip.

• After tragically losing his unbelieving son to suicide, a grieving father began questioning the existence of eternal hell. A church leader reacted with visible dismay and, after meeting with the other leaders, the father was told he could not remain a member if he expressed disbelief in eternal hell. Therefore he left the membership, and soon after the church, as it was too painful to remain.

• One member of the church staff recounted how she had been bullied for 17 years by an Elder.

See below for testimonies from those hurt by Hockliffe Street Baptist Church