Vicar accused of using naked beatings and ice baths in ‘stick and carrot’ campaign of fear
The alleged victims of the Rev Jonathan Fletcher speak of conduct that has scarred their lives for years
‘Nobody dobs in their dad. You naturally want to defend your own father, so even now I’m feeling intense guilt’
He hadn’t been sticking to his targets for healthy and holy living. A penchant for junk food, lack of exercise and substandard Bible interpretations had seen to that. He deserved to be punished; his vicar had said so.
“Let’s add a bit of motivation and have some forfeits,” the vicar had said, “to hold ourselves to account.”
In a coffee shop years later, the man – known as Victim A and speaking on condition of anonymity – is deadpan as he recalls some of the most traumatic experiences of his life. His knuckles are white on his cup. “It was suggested that I should have a cold bath and we would meet at his house,” he says.
It was only after Victim A was stood naked in the bathroom of one of the Church of England’s leading evangelical preachers, the Rev Jonathan Fletcher, that he realised this would not just be a cold bath, but an ice bath. Nor would he be alone.
Victim A is one of five men who allege Mr Fletcher abused them over a number of years, and who have now spoken out. They claim they were subjected to repeated sexually inappropriate comments and questions about masturbation, naked massages, beatings on their bare backsides, ice baths, bullying, intimidation and psychological manipulation.
Much of this, they claim, amounted to “spiritual abuse” as well as abuse of his power over them.
All five claim they reported their concerns to Emmanuel Church in Wimbledon, London, where Mr Fletcher was vicar from 1982 to 2012, and where he acted like a “benign dictator” who ruled with a “thumbs up/thumbs down Caesar-like power”. They say their concerns were neither taken seriously nor acted upon.
Bullying and intimidation was allegedly rife throughout Mr Fletcher’s reign at Emmanuel, and played out via power, prayer and punishment.
Victim B says he was psychologically scarred by years of ill-treatment at the hands of his “extremely manipulative and controlling” pastor. “I felt like a neglected and abused dog,” he said. He described the dynamic at Emmanuel as “toxic”; full of carrots and sticks.
Among Mr Fletcher’s carrots was a sense of “joining the elite”. He was the son of a cabinet minister, an Oxford graduate and revered preacher, offering friendship and the chance of career progress. The few times Victim B stood up to him, he claims, he was “bullied, maligned and humiliated”.
Mr Fletcher’s religious fervour and talent earned him protected, almost “untouchable” status in the Church of England. As a result, criticism of his brusque style was sparse.
Like many alleged victims, Victim B first met Mr Fletcher at the Iwerne Christian summer camps, and later reconnected with him at Emmanuel. He recalls pressure to go for massages or naked saunas, and feeling “like a self-conscious wimp” if he resisted
Victim C also met Mr Fletcher at the camps in the Nineties, where he was a “mentor” and “father figure”. “His wisdom and ability to relate to people was second to none,” he said.
“C” is among those who claim to have been pressured into giving and receiving massages with Mr Fletcher. He claims he experienced around 20, from approximately 2005 to 2010, usually in the vicar’s office.
“Each person wore underwear,” he said. “Oil was used. It was most similar to a sports massage with a fairly high amount of force. Conversation was usually news-based. Anyone listening in behind the door might have assumed we were drinking coffee.”
He said there was “nothing sexually inappropriate” – except for one time, when he felt from Mr Fletcher’s comments and demeanour that he “may have been deriving sexual pleasure from the encounter”.
Victim C says that when he speaks out about Mr Fletcher, he feels like he is betraying him. He said: “Nobody dobs in their dad. You naturally want to defend your own father, and so even now I’m feeling intense guilt.”
In the late Nineties, Mr Fletcher suggested regular prayer groups to discuss Bible passages. All were male.
He has admitted subjecting one such group to naked beatings as “light-hearted forfeits” if they failed to maintain “healthy and holy living” in a “system of mutual encouragement”. Beatings would be given for things such as eating chocolate, masturbating or watching pornography.
Victim A claims the “forfeits” were far from “light-hearted”. He alleges he was bullied, beaten and left feeling “messed up”. He recalls Mr Fletcher suggesting: ‘why don’t we do the gym shoe up to a maximum of five or six times?’
He says Mr Fletcher beat him on about five occasions. He would stand in his study or garage, trousers around his ankles, while the vicar took a white plimsoll to his naked behind.
This was a “mutual” chastisement, it is claimed, with the vicar also asking to be beaten for sinful masturbation.
Victim D said Mr Fletcher was preoccupied with masturbation. “I thought that his intentions were to challenge me to be a more godly Christian,” he said. “So I was shocked, but I thought at that time he cared about personal holiness.”
Regarding allegations of beatings and massages, Mr Fletcher, now 77, told The Telegraph that these were mutual, consensual and non-sexual.
He said: “[At the time] I didn’t see what we were doing was wrong, it was totally consensual, it stopped some time ago and I’m deeply, deeply sorry that a lot I did I now realise was very wrong and I’m very sorry for people I’ve hurt and harmed.”
Responding to allegations of ice baths given as punishments, he said: “When you say ice, that’s not true. You know, a cold bath, very very very rarely, I can only think of two or three occasions where that was the case.”
A spokeswoman for Emmanuel Church said it had commissioned an independent review by safeguarding charity thirtyone:eight, to “enable the voices of those impacted by Jonathan Fletcher to be expressed, heard and considered alongside other contextual information and concerns from other relevant sources”.
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Southwark said that when concerns about Mr Fletcher’s behaviour came to light, authorities including the police were informed and he was stripped of his Permission to Officiate. She said the Diocese had been working with the National Safeguarding Team and Emmanuel Church to ensure support has been offered to victims.