More wranglings over Satanic abuse

IN MY dual capacity of Coordinator for RAINS (Ritual Abuse Information Network and Support) and a psychiatrist who has worked with adult victims of Satanic cult abuse for the past six years. I was asked by a colleague two months ago, if I would talk to a journalist, Leanda de Lisle. who intended writing a balanced article on the subject (Catholic Herald, 14 May).
I readily agreed for her to contact me but the call never came. I was dismayed to read the article which is not only biased, but inaccurate. It is hard to imagine that even its author could regard it as balanced.
It is biased because it is written solely from the viewpoint of Detective Superintendent Coles, who, it is well known, was in prolonged dispute with the Nottingham social workers and foster parents regarding the well-founded suspicions of ritual abuse in the Broxtowe case.
His opinions were also in conflict with those of Mrs Justice Booth who clearly expressed in the wardship hearing that children had been abused in Satanic rituals. This finding was upheld in the appeal court.
Unfortunately, the professionals involved with this case are bound by confidentiality and do not enjoy the same liberty to disclose details that Mr Coles appears to, even with substitute names. Were she to hear the other side of it. Leanda de Lisle might well reach a very different conclusion.
It is inaccurate, not only as regards details of the case itself and the factors surrounding it, but also in that Broxtowe was not the first major Satanic abuse case in Britain.
As long ago as 1982, in Telford. four people, two men and two women. were convicted of various sexual offences committed in the context of Satanic rituals; two more cases followed, with convictions, in November 1986 and July 1987. All these preceded the Broxtowe case.
Does Mr Coles suggest that Boxtowe also"spawned" these? In addition, my own first patient was describing activities before the Broxtowe children began their disclosures and both these events occurred prior to any information being received from Ray Wyre.
Neither the psychiatric registrar in Manchester nor Det, Supt. Coles is in a position to determine whether the allegations made by the adult informants are fantasy or reality.
Mr Coles makes a very serious charge in suggesting that the professionals handling the Broxtowe case may have "created a generation of abusers who kill in the name of the devil".
I would suggest that his attack on them may have damaging results in deterring both victims and professionals, through fear, from voicing what they know to be the truth and thus allowing continuation of these crimes.
It is both inaccurate and dangerously misleading, to dismiss Satanist abuse as a myth. The same stories are being heard repeatedly, without prompting. from adult and child victims and•few professionals have read much of the subject prior to encountering their first cases.
The scepticism that has been so prominent for generations is the chief weapon of the abusers and is undoubtedly responsible for numerous cases being misdiagnosed, denied or dismissed as hysteria on the part of social workers and Christians.
Many victims of Satanism seek help form the Christian church, so it is vitally important that they are not confronted by potential helpers with closed minds. Perhaps Leanda de Lisle would like to redress the balance..
Joan Coleman Guildford