A congregation in Manchester was condemned for its treatment of women who had been abused MARY TURNER/THE TIMESThe Jehovah’s Witness policy of allowing convicted paedophiles to interrogate their victims has been condemned by the charities’ regulator. A report into a congregation in Manchester said that elders misled investigators, concealed evidence and allowed a senior member convicted of abusing two girls, aged five and ten, to cross-examine them. Similar disciplinary policies at the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, which oversees local groups and distributes literature, are being investigated by the Charity Commission. Jehovah’s Witnesses have 138,000 congregation members, known as publishers, in the UK. The charity regulator is examining a rule that requires two witnesses to give evidence before a member can be expelled and the running of “judicial committees” which allow abusers to question their victims.

Source: The Times July 26, 2017 22:52 UTC