UNITED STATES
Yellow Advertiser
Special report: Child abuse and the churches
EXCLUSIVE by Charles Thomson
CAMPAIGNERS have claimed the case of Barry Snow highlights the need for new laws on how religious groups handle child abuse allegations.
Snow, 51, of St Lawrence Gardens, in Leigh, was reported to the Jehovah’s Witness church in the late 1970s and admitted to repeatedly molesting a girl under the age of 10.
Mr Snow committed the offences in his late teens.
But instead of notifying police, the church imposed its own sanctions, allowing him to escape justice in the courts. He then went on to abuse a second girl in the early 1980s.
Judge Jonathan Black criticised the church’s handling of the allegations, but campaigners pointed out that there are currently no UK laws requiring churches to report child abuse to police.
The Jehovah’s Witness church has a Child Safeguarding Policy in place, but the campaigners say it is not strong enough.
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