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Two brothers who were abused by the same man have criticised the Jehovah’s Witnesses for failing to tell the police about the allegations.
Andrew and Luke Hollis, who were both abused as children, have waived their right to anonymity to criticise a leader in their former congregation for “brushing it under the carpet”.
The men told The Telegraph that when they informed a senior member of the religious organisation, the allegations were not passed to the police.
Some years later, their abuser handed himself in and was convicted. But Andrew Hollis said he learned that, on his release, the man had apparently been re-admitted to another congregation, which he felt could have led to other children being put at risk.
The brothers are the latest victims of abuse who have called for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to strengthen their safeguarding measures regarding child abuse.
The Christian Congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses did not respond to questions about how the case of the Hollis brothers was handled, but it has previously said that its current child protection policies instruct leaders to “make a report to the police wherever it appears that a child is in danger of abuse”.
Earlier this month, The Telegraph revealed that the religious group has amassed a database of child sexual abuse allegations against its members.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses said that details of their record keeping have been in the “public domain … for some time” and highlighted evidence given by one of their senior members to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in which he described how information on accusations was stored at congregations and their central office.
However, questions remain around what the religious organisation has done with the data it has amassed, as well as the way it has responded to some police investigations.
Victims, including the Hollis brothers, have said that any data held should be handed to the police immediately.
The Telegraph has established that the Metropolitan Police opened an inquiry into child abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses, called Operations Phrontistery. The inquiry closed in December 2020, but sources have told The Telegraph that when they met with officers from the Met, the police discussed how it might be possible to obtain the religious organisation’s records of abuse.
The Met declined to comment on whether they sought to obtain the data and the Jehovah’s Witnesses said they had never heard about the inquiry.
The Charity Commission opened an investigation into the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses are officially known, over safeguarding issues.
The Telegraph has seen court documents showing that the regulator served a production order which asked for “documents recording allegations of abuse, and advice and guidance provided in relation to any incidents of an allegation of sexual abuse”.
The probe is still ongoing and is understood to be one of the longest inquiries undertaken by the regulator in the last ten years.
Sources familiar with the inquiry told The Telegraph that the regulator was forced to back down on part of its request following a fierce legal challenge by lawyers working for the religious organisation.
It is unclear what was ultimately obtained.
Luke Hollis, 32, who now lives in New Zealand and is training to be a clinical psychologist, told The Telegraph that he was abused by a man, Andrew Collins, whom he and his brother regarded as a spiritual leader in their congregation.
Luke said that the abuse occurred between the ages of about seven and 14-years-old. Collins – who has since changed his name – told Luke when he was a child that he was also abusing his brother, but the siblings never discussed it.
“This person had responsibility in the congregation”, said Luke. “He was a spiritual role model.”
Luke said that when he was 18, he noticed that Collins had become closer to another family in the congregation and grew concerned that he might abuse their child.
“I noticed him getting really close to him and I recognised that behaviour,” said Luke.
He said he feared “it’s going to happen again”, so he reported it to a senior member of the congregation. After raising the abuse, he asked his brother Andrew to confirm it.
It was only after this conversation that Luke realised his brother was unaware that they were both being abused. “It turned out my brother never knew,” he said.
Andrew Hollis, 33, who lives in Leeds and works as a window cleaner, told The Telegraph that he was “shocked” to learn that his brother had been abused by the same man as him.
“I didn’t know anything was going on with Luke at the time”, said Andrew, who said he had been abused by Collins between the ages of 10 and 16-years-old.
Andrew confirmed what his brother Luke had said about the abuse. It is understood that Collins was disfellowshipped by his congregation after the allegation was made, but it is unclear if this was because of the report itself.
Several years later, the man who had abused them walked into a police station and confessed to child abuse.
Shortly before the trial, Collins pleaded guilty to a series of offences, including sexual assaults and sexual activity with a child. In 2013, he was jailed for six years and eight months.
A local newspaper report from the time quotes the prosecutor in the case saying that although Collins was “shunned by [his] congregation … at that time matters were not brought to the attention of the police”.
‘He’s a convicted paedophile’
Andrew Hollis told The Telegraph that, after Collins’ release from prison, he was told by the man’s probation officer that Collins wished to join another congregation and had been attending meetings.
“From what I can gather, they allowed him to join the congregation,” said Andrew.
“He had to sit with somebody at all times and he had to leave before it finished. But it hit a nerve with me because, I thought, they know his past and they are letting him back in.
“He’s a convicted paedophile. They are potentially putting people at risk by allowing him back in. The Jehovah’s Witnesses need to put steps in place to keep children safe.”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses told The Telegraph that they retain “confidential ecclesiastical records relating to child sexual abuse” to ensure that “restrictions are in place for the protection of children” and to make sure that “no former abuser occupies a position of oversight within the congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses”.
“Such records are kept to a minimum in compliance with data protection requirements,” they added.
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