According to the footnotes in the Fletcher Survivors’ Group open letter of 12 May, yet another allegation of wrongdoing by Fletcher has been made to Diocesan (Southwark) safeguarding authorities. The disclosure that the assertion had been lodged is found on page two of the letter.
“In the course of preparing this letter, one of us has disclosed to the others of us further information about his abuse by JF which he felt too ashamed to disclose to the Review and which he has never before disclosed. This disclosure has now been reported to the relevant Diocesan safeguarding authorities. It has enabled the others of us to see more clearly the undeniably sexual nature of JF’s behaviour and to better understand our own experiences as grooming behaviour for more serious abuse.
“It should be clearly stated that the reason for his not disclosing this activity to the Review was categorically not because of fear of retribution by evangelical leaders. Indeed, his experience – as has been each of ours – is that the men who currently stand accused of creating ‘a culture of fear’ have treated us at all times with sympathy, integrity and great kindness. They have helped and encouraged us to bring our experiences to light where we found that difficult to do. We are grateful to them for the action they took to bring JF’s abuse to public light.
“The fear we have experienced in disclosing our abuse and our insistence on anonymity has rather been because of shame of discovery which, as you are aware, is a typical reaction for victims in our situation.”
