Abuse-accused preacher ‘writing manipulative letters to victims’
AN EVANGELICAL preacher accused of abuse has been writing “manipulative” letters to his alleged victims, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Yesterday, five men who claim to have been spiritually, psychologically and physically abused by Jonathan Fletcher, 77, spoke out for the first time and called for a criminal investigation.
The men, speaking on condition of anonymity, detailed how the former vicar allegedly subjected them to repeated comments and questions about masturbation, intimate massages, beatings, ice baths, bullying and intimidation over a number of years.
In June, The Telegraph revealed that Mr Fletcher, the vicar of Emmanuel Church in Wimbledon, south-west London, from 1982 to 2012, had been stripped of his powers to preach around the world in 2017 by the Bishop of Southwark, amid allegations he had “spiritually abused vulnerable adults”.
He has now sent letters to some of his alleged victims, as well as figures linked to his former church. The Telegraph has seen copies of the letters.
One alleged victim, who came into contact with Mr Fletcher at Christian camps, said after allegations of spiritual abuse were made public, Mr Fletcher wrote to ask him if he had been “brainwashed”, accused him of not being “vulnerable” and said his disclosure made life harder “for both of us”.
The man, who claims he was beaten and bullied by Mr Fletcher, said: “I had been pretty defensive of Jonathan and at first appreciated the letters… but subsequently it’s been pointed out to me that these are the ways he was keeping his hold on me, and I guess I became open to that.
‘I won’t write again as letters can’t smile or weep. I am very, very sorry and very, very sad’
“It’s manipulative ...,” he added, “but I’m not sure he will see that. I don’t think he still understands what it was that he needs to repent over.”
The former vicar wrote that the investigation into his alleged misconduct found that he “could be a threat to vulnerable adults” – “but you are not a ‘vulnerable adult’.”
“Has something or someone ‘brainwashed’ you’ into abandoning ‘what I thought was a genuine, close friendship’ in such a way ‘that I am seen to be malevolent and manipulating’? ” he asked. “I have tried to say sorry for my part in all the agonies that you have been going through,” he wrote.
He signed “with continuing love and prayers,’’ saying: “I won’t write again as letters can’t smile or weep. I am very, very sorry and very, very sad.”
The Telegraph understands that at least three alleged victims have received letters from Mr Fletcher and that there are further alleged victims who have received letters but do not wish to speak out.
One recipient, a vicar who received letters and missed calls from Mr Fletcher, spoke of his inconsistency that he “is insistent he doesn’t know whom he has harmed, yet continues to claim he knows he’s done wrong”.
Mr Fletcher told this newspaper that massages and beatings were consensual and that he never gave ice baths, but did “very, very, very rarely” give “a cold bath”. “Anything that happened was totally consensual and non-sexual,” he added. He said he was “deeply, deeply sorry for anybody that I have hurt or harmed in any way”, adding that he had sent two letters to two individuals “that I’d heard had been harmed” and denied accusations that they were manipulative, and said he was writing to apologise.