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THE CULTURE OF THE
GREY GHOSTS
IN THE STAR CHAMBER
THE JIMMY
SAVILE INQUIRY
In October 2022
the final report on the Jimmy Savile inquiry (officially the Independent
Inquiry into Child Sex abuse, or IICSA) was
published. The Methodist Church
was identified
as an
“example of good child protection practice” in a number of areas, including
safer recruitment and internal assurance practices.
Considering
that the Church of England and the Catholic Church were severely criticised
by IICSA, this was a surprise. After all, Jane Stacey’s review in 2015 had
uncovered 1885 cases of people being abused in the Methodist Church.
It seemed to
some that there might be a hidden hand in the background of the IICSA
review, working to make things easier for the Methodist Church.
CONFERENCE
2022
There was some
gossip about such hidden influences inside the Church at Conference this
year. Although the final IICSA report had not then been published, rumours
about it were circulating.
Conference does
not normally create a lot of gossip, but this year it was different. This
was because Conference 2022 produced a great mystery that has had those
Methodists who are aware of it, puzzling. It was not just the rumours about
the Jimmy Savile review - the question on the lips of those who have read
this website was - what on earth happened about Peter Timms?
You will recall
that Peter Timms was removed from the ministry in 2020 because he spoke out
against what he considered to be inequalities in the complaints and
disciplinary procedures. His supposed “crime” was that he had openly
complained about this culture to Church members in 2018 – and this had
provoked others to take up his cause, particularly on this website. In 2021
this controversy went to the very top of the Church.
What happened at
Conference has raised rumours that a “hidden hand” has also been at work in
the Timms case. There was talk of a secret group, members of a
“star chamber”, in the Church hierarchy - which operated behind closed
doors.
Timms had become a victim of this group.
THE STAR CHAMBER
Nowadays, the term
“star chamber” is applied to any legal or administrative body with strict,
arbitrary rulings and no "due process" rights to those accused. Peter Timms
was, apparently, judged at Conference by a star chamber.
The original “Star
Chamber” was an English court, created in the late fifteenth century. It
became synonymous with social and political oppression through the arbitrary
use and abuse of the power it wielded. The essential element was that all
judgments were decided in secret. The accused could not defend himself.
THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND.
The Church of
England has recently been accused of operating a “Star Chamber”.
In a
letter
to the Charity Commission, a group of some 70 eminent members of the Church
of England, including several members of the House of Lords and the Bar
Association, stated:
The Archbishop of
Canterbury rejected such damning claims. However, within a few months of the
letter becoming public, several changes in the internal systems of the
Church of England were quietly introduced.
Methodists who
witnessed events at Conference this year are now wondering if some similar
damning accusation might be made against their Church.
JANE STACEY AND
METHODIST CULTURE
The suggestion that
there is something wrong with the culture inside the Methodist Church is not
new. In 2015, Jane Stacey noted:
The Stacey review
revealed several suspicious anomalies brought about by this growing culture
of “Do as we say, not as we do”.
In particular, the
review team stated that of the 223 accusations against ministers, 138 of
them - more than half – were considered by the Methodist Church as “private
matters” and settled using internal procedures.
This means that
accusations of criminal activity, involving some 270 individuals in
the Church, were deemed as “private”.
Many questioned how criminal
activity, such as sexual abuse, could possibly ever remain “private” in a
Church which has the word “openness” in the over-arching principles to its
Standing Orders.
How many members of
the Methodist Church suffered the indignity of having their complaints
brushed aside - because the sexual abuse they said they had suffered was a
“private” matter in the Church?
It seems that some
people in the Methodist Church – the type of persons nicknamed in the Church
of England as the “grey ghosts” - wanted to hide the Methodists Church’s
dirty linen from public view.
When the Stacey
review into abuse in the Church was published in 2015, some concerned
members of the Church claimed that some cases of abuse were simply not
covered by the report. There are rumours that more cases have been reported
since the review was written.
It suggests that
someone might have sifted through the evidence of about sex abuse in the
Church and taken out a few names that were deemed too sensitive for
publication.
CLAIMS REFUTED.
The infamous charge
that evidence of criminal activity was withheld has been refuted. The
official line is that there are no “grey ghosts” holding such secret power
inside the Methodist Church. However, as we know from evidence on this
website, members of the Church in the South of England are already aware of
one particular cover-up. Recent gossip suggests that a “grey ghost” has now
actually destroyed the evidence of that case - which caused a nasty divorce
and drove the woman involved to mental ill-health.
If such destruction
of Church records actually happened, and since that case is linked with the
Timms case, there is now serious speculation that the same “grey ghost”
“fixed” the Peter Timms case at Conference this year. He knows too much
about the case and needs to be "shut up".
SPECIAL CONFERENCE
INQUIRY
In 2021 the
Timms case went to the Methodist Church Council – the governing body of the
Church. A special inquiry team of three Council members was formed to
investigate what had happened in Bexhill in 2014.
Seven years had
passed since 2014 when this controversy began. It had taken some four years
for the affair to reach the Council - since a Church Steward, new to the
District, John Troughton, had made a series of complaints against Rev Peter
Timms. John Troughton’s original charges led to disciplinary proceedings
which ended with Peter Timms being stripped of his ministry and his
livelihood.
The special
Council inquiry team had some difficulties. All the senior members of the Church in
the District were new to the area. There was a new District Chair, and a new
Superintendent. They were only aware of the “official” version of the
matter. The Council inquiry team interviewed Peter Timms, but only via Zoom
– and he was now quite frail with his heart problems.
Nevertheless,
the three Council members were impressed by him. They had apparently already
gained the impression that the atmosphere in Bexhill was very harmful to the
Church and even destructive.
They
recommended that Peter Timms should be reinstated as a minister.
People, such as
John Troughton, who
had led the attack against Peter Timms in
Bexhill were not pleased with the decision. The clear implication of the
Council members’ report was that Peter Timms was not responsible for the
atmosphere that festered in Bexhill. Indeed, he had valiantly fought against
it. It had caused one church to close and several members to leave. Peter
Timms was a victim – in that he had actually suffered a heart attack because
of this controversy. The Methodist Care Home where he worked for many years
has been put up for sale.
A few elements
of the Council inquiry’s report have since leaked out. One member of the
team, a person of the highest integrity, has been telling friends that the
atmosphere in Bexhill was pernicious. This person had knowledge of a
similar situation some decades ago, but it was nowhere near as bad as
Bexhill. This was a startling opinion and not one that some in the Church
wanted.
ENTER THE
GREY GHOSTS
So, as
Conference began, it seemed that Peter Timms would be reinstated. The deep
wounds that the Church Steward in the District had caused might be healed.
Rev Timms had been asked if he would be prepared to forgive and forget and
he had agreed to do so.
It is normal
practice for recommendations from a special Council inquiry to pass
Conference “on the nod”. Not to do so would cast doubt on the competency of
the three council members who had complied the report. Indeed, one of the
members at Conference telephoned Peter Timms with the good news.
The
re-instatement did not take place. A “secret session” was called – the grey
ghosts in the Star Chamber held a meeting.
This
extraordinary gathering took place when most members at Conference,
particularly the Bexhill special Council inquiry team, were getting ready to travel
home - with one eye on the rail strikes.
No one was
present at this star chamber who, in any way, might represent Peter Timms.
He was not to be heard.
The proceedings
were brutal. The decision to reinstate Peter Timms was overturned. The
reason for this was to remain a secret. The grey ghosts simply opposed the
reinstatement.
It appalled
some of the Council inquiry team who had recommended reinstatement. They had
spent many hours of their valuable time on the inquiry. They had tried to be
fair, honest and open. It was a slur on their judgement and an insult to
their integrity. They had not been invited to the star chamber "closed
session". They were not allowed to defend their recommendation.
The decision in
the star chamber had not been taken easily. A member of the inquiry team
later heard that there had been arguments – unusual in a secret session.
Voices were apparently raised and at one point there was a bang, as if a
chair had been overturned.
Perhaps the
most disturbing aspect of this is that the Methodist Church is supposed to
hold “openness” as one of its guiding principles. In this case however, we
can only know the truth about the banishment of Peter Timms from the rumours
that are now being spread. Such is the culture of the Methodist Church when
the grey ghosts are in power.
Some have
looked for an excuse for this outrageous behaviour. The only possible
procedure in the standing orders allows a minister, who has been removed
from the ministry, to appear in person before the Methodist Council to plead
his or her case. It is usually a humiliating process for the minister. The
star chamber, however, humiliates the Church. It creates victims out of
innocent Methodists.
The procedure
for giving the minister a final hearing before the full Council was not
followed in this case. The star chamber did not contain all the Council
members; Peter Timms could not appear before it. His case was not put to
his secret judges. And, most importantly, at least three Council members had
recommended his re-instatement. But they were ignored. Their opinions were
dismissed.
NO PROPER
PROCEDURE
The grey ghosts
appear to have forgotten that there had already been an official Council
inquiry into the Timms case. Allowing a minister to plead his or her cause
is not necessary when there has been an official Council inquiry with
recommendations in favour of the minister.
It is this
aspect of the proceedings at Conference which has caused some members to
question the culture inside the Methodist Church and to call the process a
“star chamber”.
WHO ARE THE
GREY GHOSTS?
So who are the
grey ghosts who sit in this “Star Chamber” in the Methodist Church? Where
does ultimate power and responsibility lie?
Perhaps one
clue concerning the identity of these “grey ghosts” may lie in certain
facts that the Council inquiry team discovered in Bexhill.
At the inquiry
team’s initial briefing, a major fact in the case was omitted. The Council
members were not told that Rev Peter Timms’ current complaint was about
his treatment at the hands of Mr Chris Kitchin, the lead panel member,
during their initial exchanges in the complaints procedures.
They were only
told that he had “gone public”, when in fact he had only contacted church
members. They were told that he had never sought reconciliation –
when in fact he had tried to be reconciled at least a dozen times over his
fears about the invidious culture in the Church.
This was particularly ironic - because in 2018, Peter Timms had entered into
four hours of reconciliation talks on the very subject of making clear to
Methodist members what had been going on. It was based on a compliant by the
Church Steward John Troughton.
An agreement had been drawn up by the Church representative at the talks,
and Peter Timms had shaken hands on it. He then kept to the agreement - the
Church did not.
A month later, the Church Steward, John Troughton, who had started all
the trouble, withdrew his consent to this agreement and complained yet again
against his minister. Someone, it seems, had spoken to him. This repeat of
Troughton's accusations, it seems, did not go through the proper channels.
Because of this
lack of a proper initial briefing, the Council
inquiry team did not therefore immediately realise that over the years, this
complaint by Peter Timms had grown into a complaint against the apparently
iniquitous and ubiquitous culture inside Methodist Church House.
Peter Timms had
seen at first hand, and suffered from, the very same unsavoury
culture which Jane Stacey had detected in 2015 when reviewing sex abuse
cases. When the Council inquiry team learned of this, it led them to
important discoveries.
DOCTRINE OF
RECUSAL
One of the
revelations was that a serious mistake was made in Church House when the
Deputy Coroner for South Hertfordshire, Graham Danbury, was chosen to lead
the disciplinary panel which decided to eject Peter Timms from the ministry.
The special
inquiry team discovered that Mr Kitchin and Mr Danbury have been close
colleagues for many years. They worked in adjacent offices in St Albans.
They are both members of the Hatfield Road
congregation in St Albans - and both have sat
as Trustees on the Church Council.
This staggering
fact had, apparently, been hidden from the Council inquiry team by someone
in Methodist Church House.
At least one
member of the inquiry team thought that this friendship between judge and
accused might be more than simply prejudicial. How could Mr Danbury possibly
be asked to pass judgement on his friend? Such a situation should never
occur in any tribunal – and yet, it had been done in the Timms case.
This revelation
led to a further important discovery. Research revealed that the
disciplinary procedures of the Methodist Church contain no element of the
"doctrine of recusal". Such a failure in procedure will inevitably lead to
misconduct.
On the other
hand, it is this very hole in the Standing Orders which allows the grey
ghosts to protect themselves. They do as they wish, secure in the knowledge
that they may choose their friends as their judges.
This appalling
situation was not mentioned in the report by the Council inquiry team. One
might understand why.
But how
intentional was Graham Danbury’s failure to recuse himself because of his
friendship with Chris Kitchin? Local gossip in St Albans suggests that some
members of the Hatfield Road congregation may have actually noticed that
Graham Danbury seemed more than a little perturbed at around the time when
this outrageous ‘failure to recuse’ was made public on this website.
WASTE OF
MONEY
Was it just
coincidence that these revelations were followed by the expensive legal
action against this website? How many thousands of pounds were wasted on
that fruitless venture? Church House could have hardly chosen a more
expensive firm of solicitors in this action than Farrers in Lincoln’s Inn,
who have acted in the past for the Royal Family. This was a hugely expensive
attempt to imprison the writer of this website.
Was a grey
ghost behind this huge expenditure of Church funds? Was it, in fact, not so
much an attack on this website as a belated attempt to cover up this huge
hole in the standing orders of the Methodist Church? Which supposedly
competent lawyer forgot to include the doctrine of recusal in the standing
orders?
In addition to
that huge legal cost, one might inquire - what was the cost of the
Methodist Council inquiry team which investigated the atmosphere in Bexhill?
It may be that
the grey ghosts in the Methodist Council were happy to pay a huge amount to
obtain a report which would confirm their prejudices about Peter Timms. But
when the truth about Bexhill contradicted their prejudices, they simply
threw the report away - because they could do so with impunity.
They did not
like the truth that the inquiry had unearthed.
All this is a
complete waste of Methodist funds. In the Timms case it seems that the
expenditure was designed to protect the reputation of one man – Mr Chris
Kitchin in St. Albans. He still refuses to offer any apology for his
egregious actions – which some on the Law and Polity Committee now privately
admit were a gross mistake in procedure.
No doubt he is
comforted in the fact that he has a friend in the grey ghosts who will
protect him.
It makes
unhappy reading for the ministers currently suffering in the disciplinary
processes of the Methodist Church. At least three such cases seem to be
going the same way as the Timms case.
STAR CHAMBER
AND HUMAN RIGHTS.
Of course,
operating a star chamber inside the Methodist Church is completely against
the principles of the Human Rights Act – which the Church has committed
itself to “as best practice” in its disciplinary procedures.
It seems that
the ridiculous events at Conference this year support Jane Stacey’s view
about the damaging nature of the culture within the Church. Like the damning
silence on some of the sex abuse cases, the Timms case appears to be, as
Jane Stacey wrote, a:
“strong indicator
that the culture does not match in practice what it claims in words." Few would argue with the statement that
when innocent victims cannot defend themselves because of gaps in the rules
under which they serve, the culture of an organisation is a critical factor in ensuring it is a safe
organisation.
--00-- In
these difficult economic times, Peter Timms is now suffering extreme
financial hardship because he tried to support the central doctrines of the
Church he loves.
PLEASE HELP PETER BY
SENDING £20 either by cheque (made out to Peter Timms) or cash to: Methodist
Anguish, 8, Thornsett Road, London SE20 7XE.
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