STATEMENT TO THE BROADCASTING COMPLAINTS COMMISSION WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 1989
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Summary of the complaints against Central Television's
THE COOK REPORT - THE DEVIL'S WORK
Broadcast July 17 1989
The commission must have had great difficulty in trying to understand this case for there are in fact many separate issues some of which do not directly come within the commission's jurisdiction but which HAVE to be understood in order for the Commission to make a valued and fair judgment.I will attempt to clarify these aspects quickly and succinctly and hope that the commission will bear with me for they are most important.
My actual complaint is straightforward enough and falls into two parts.
(1) The Cook Report and Central Television chose to represent me to millions of viewers as being a complicit supporter of subversive criminal organisations and the key distributor of information from those organisations which was knowingly calculated to incite people to criminal activities and child sexual abuse.
(2) The evidence to support this theory was vaporous in the extreme and in order to convince viewers that their suspicions were correct they used testimony from self-appointed enemies, pure sensationalism, ambiguity in reporting, and dubious methods of filming and researching which amounted to entrapment. The Cook Report posed as customers in order to buy items which were subsequently used in a Satanic ceremony, laid siege to my premises and QED stopped clients from entering the shop causing me to close the shop and thereby interfering with my livelihood. The Cook Report terrorised and upset my wife and my staff and misrepresented my business to the nation in such a way that several suppliers stopped trading with us and takings have been permanently affected in that I have lost a great deal of trade from a wide spectrum of the Alternative market interested solely in fringe-healing; astrology and Eastern Mysticism. Three weeks after the programme persons unknown broke into my premises and fired it.
The Commission has been deluged with hefty statements and this is perhaps an indication of the complexity and convolution of the subject itself. It is clear that there is great confusion between Fact, Opinion, Interpretation, probability and belief. 90% of the statements address arguments which are not substantiated by FACTS and both sides have drawn meaningful interpretations from what few facts exist with great licence.
It will be obvious to the Commission that my resources are very meagre indeed when compared to the vast amount of manpower and money which Central TV can bring to bear to exercise its will. Yet despite this David & Goliath situation and despite the tragedy of the burning of my business I have continued to strive to vindicate myself from their attack upon me at great length and at great cost to myself and my family. It will be obvious to the commission that in undertaking what, to some, may seem an impossible fight my only motive can be that I wish the TRUTH to be known. Had the situation been as clear cut as CTV would have the commission believe it would have been an easy task for Central to present categorical and undisputed evidence to totally undermine my complaint.
IT IS AN ASTOUNDING BUT SIGNIFICANT MATTER FOR THE COMMISSION THAT THEY HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO THIS.
Instead they have embarked upon a series of small character assassinations designed to ignore the good that my work does and project me as an evil, deceitful, manipulative, liar. They have termed me a hysterical liar. They accuse me of being false and a a hypocrite. I am a deceiver and irresponsible. They say I threaten people and infer that I victimise people. I am a disgraceful manipulator of the truth, and on, and on, and on....
Central TV seem ever ready to insult me and make disparaging inferences but THEY HAVE NOT PRODUCED ANY FURTHER FACTUAL INFORMATION WHICH WOULD CATEGORICALLY REFUTE MY COMPLAINT AND EXCUSE THEIR VICTIMISATION OF ME.
The commission will be glad to hear that I will not continue to countermand point for point the MANY ridiculous assertions and conclusions contained within Central TVs second statement but some MUST be challenged lest the Commission be totally mislead.
CTV several times attempt to undermine my authority in the hope of convincing the Commission that I am at best a deluded innocent. They say that I am NOT an acknowledged expert on Crowley and go on to say that the Cook Report spent some time researching Crowley's life and works. CTV infer in other words that they know more than I do on this subject. They state that ' we do not accept that Mr Bray is an adequate authority on Crowley's life and work.'
The commission will note that I have never claimed to be an acknowledged expert on Crowley and thus the glaringly inaccurate conclusions that the Cook Report have made in their most recent statement serve only to reveal the extent to which their own prejudices coloured the Devil's Work programme and the shallowness of the research undertaken.
For example in an attempt to establish beyond doubt that Crowley was a Satanist and in league with the devil Central point to the fact that Crowley called himself THE GREAT BEAST and say that this is a synonym of the devil. THIS from a researcher with a Masters Degree in Theology? The title BEAST is of course taken from The Book of Revelations Chapter 13 and any Theology student should know that. The chapter reads:
"Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE DEVIL HERE.
In fact Crowley's Biographer John Symmonds reports in the foreward to THE HAGIOGRAPHY asked Crowley where he got the nickname from and Crowley admitted that as a child his recuscant nature was such a vexed nuisance to his family who were members of the Plymouth Bretheren, that his mother scolded him with the nickname The BEAST whenever he did anything wrong and it suited Crowley's relish for notoriety to continue it.
All this information is readily available to anyone who looks beyond their own prejudices. The commission may begin to ask why Central did not discover this link from their own researches? The answer is that they searched only to find ambiguity sufficient to support their own prejudices.
But this is a minor point when compared against an even greater and more revealing mistake about Crowley. CTV state that
"A traditional Satanic Black Mass was conducted at his (Crowley's) funeral".
I have here a facsimile copy of the Funeral Rite which Crowley willed to be performed. It contains Crowley's own poem THE HYMN TO PAN which The Cook REport in their epic prejudiced ignorance have taken as having Some satanic context. Pan was of course the Greek God of Pastures, forests and flocks. The Commission will see if they wish to peruse it that Crowley's funeral ceremony was a very beautiful and sensitive one and there is no intimation of any evil context. On the contrary the pamphlet contains Collects from the Gnostic Mass a most mystical and sacred piece of prose. If the commission would like I will recite a verse or two so they can get the tenor of the piece?
This is a MOST IMPORTANT point. If Central TV consider that this funeral rite was ' A TRADITIONAL SATANIC BLACK MASS' then their research for this programme has just been totally undermined. Yet again I have proven that Central TV just do not know that of which they speak and their investigation was cursory in the extreme. For them to purport to have done all that was necessary in the way of research or to attempt to undermine my knowledge in the face of theirs is patently absurd and I have proved on over a dozen occasions to this very commission that their claims and assumptions can be easily undermined with the truth.
If the commission accept that the Research of the Cook Report was insufficient (and if I have not already made that clear I can continue to undermine each and every specific argument they have put forward if the commission so wish) then the BCC must consider the reason WHY that research was incorrect. Following the extensive statements and allegations I have made and the long detailed consideration of the statements which have been presented so far to the commission there can only be one of two reasons.
(1) They were mislead by their informants, made the programme in good faith; are now sorry about their mistake but cannot retract because of the invidious situation which has developed or:
(2) They victimised me knowing that the whole thing was a set up but assumed I couldn't defend myself or obtain natural rights because of my occult involvement so went ahead regardless.
CTV will no doubt argue that the reason they produced the programme was because of the dangerous and sinister criminal activities which were under investigation. I do not agree that Satanic Child Sexual Abuse exists as a reality in the way that the Cook Report tried to make us believe and I will give my opinion on this later but I hope the Commission will not be misguided in that whether or not there was public interest in the purported
Satanic Child Sex Abuse Scare THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE LINKING ME WITH IT AND I SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN INVOLVED.
The commission will agree that there is a fine line between PERSECUTION and PROSECUTION. Prosecution occurs where one has sufficient evidence and suspicions to prove beyond doubt that a suspect is guilty. Persecution occurs where one person or a gang of people decide upon insufficient evidence to victimise and accuse someone about whom they are prejudiced. The commission will clearly see from the tenor of the statements made by the Cook Report that CTV are personally prejudiced against me, my business and what I stand for and therefore their programme turned out to be not an investigation based on public interest but victimisation based upon prejudice.
It is a psychological device of prejudice to seek and accept unreliable corroborative information to justify that prejudice.
It may not be within the brief of the commission to decide whether or not an anti-occult campaign existed but it IS INTENSELY RELEVANT TO THIS COMPLAINT in order for the commission to decide whether suspect information and opinion was employed by the Cook Report to justify my inclusion in The Devil's Work.
Let us be specific : The factual information provided by Central to justify their suspicions and their portrayal of me to the nation as being involved in promoting murder, the sale of dead bodies and promoting Satanic child abuse is that I published one controversial article by The Process Church; an advertisement for a male contact and another controversial article which included a warning about taking drugs. That is the sum total of their evidence.
The rest of their accusations, inferences and innuendo is vaporous.
The commission will know, having read my statements, that I have dealt honesty and directly with the questions as to why I published those items. The question which now needs asking is HOW DOES MY PUBLISHING THESE ITEMS INFER THAT I AM FOSTERING, PROMOTING OR ADVOCATING Murder, Child Abuse and Criminality?
Does this warped logic mean that Bantam Books who publish HELTER SKELTER a book about the Manson Murders replete with gory photographs and detailed descriptions of the terrible injuries of the victims has the intention of inciting thousands of readers to the same violence? Of course not. Are we to assume that Hutchinson publishers who publish the current edition of Mein Kampf intend to proselytise facism and neo-nazisim? Of course not.
These and similar controversial books are in print precisely because knowledge is a greater facility than ignorance and to reveal the truth behind these occurrences liberates us from them. For the Commission to accept that my publishing these articles was sufficient justification for the mistreatment that The cook report handed out the commission will also have to agree that I was in fact and did in fact intend to promote satanism in the full knowledge that it involved criminal activities and child sexual abuse.
Furthermore a basic preliminary to considering any of the arguments for the Cook Report programme is the proviso that Satanism per se involves Child Sexual Abuse and Murder. This is a foundation stone of the whole complaint. The Child Abuse Scare develops a great deal of hysteria in everyone. Regardless of their training many police officers and judges have been mislead into considering the case from an emotional standpoint. If the commission actually BELIEVE that child abuse takes place in Satanic Rituals without having it proved to them one way or the other then I will be unable to obtain fairness.
In our rush to declare our horror at such unspeakable practices we can often loose sight of the fact that it is unfortunately the case that thousands of children are being abused in a myriad of different situations none of which are connected in any way with occultism.
I have here the latest and most up to date book on Child Sexual Abuse. It is not supposed to be on sale until next year. The authors are American and Canadian but NOWHERE IN THE BOOKS 270 PAGES IS THERE ANY LINK WITH CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AND SATANISM. THE WORDS OCCULT AND OR MAGIC OR RITUAL DO NOT APPEAR. IT IS AS THOUGH THE GREAT HULLABALOO OVER SATANISM AND CHILD SEX ABUSE NEVER HAPPENED EVEN THOUGH IT GRABBED NATIONAL HEADLINES AND NATIONAL TV SPECIALS COVERAGE THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA DURING 1987/88/AND 89. This highly respected and comprehensive work on child sexual abuse makes no mention whatsoever of child abuse linked to Satanism.
THAT IS BECAUSE IT DOESN'T EXIST or at least does not exist as the harbingers like the Cook Report would have us believe , as an integral and regularly occurring part of Satanism or belief in the Sinister.
The Commission must consider this information carefully because if I can prove that child sexual abuse and murder is unlikely to be an obligatory ingredient in Satanism then NOT ONLY HAVE I UNDERMINED THE RESEARCH OF THE COOK REPORT WITH REGARD TO MY own appearance in it but I HAVE ALSO UNDERMINED THE reason d'etre of the ENTIRE PROGRAMME.
It is noticeable in the preparations and the presentations of both Central TV and the IBA that each relies heavily on the other's statements which support and justify the need for the programme.
The classic quote is :
'The programme was a proper investigation into Satanism and the criminal practices associated with it'.
For example, in their most recent letter to the commission the IBA clearly state that their sole information input about Satanism comes directly from the research done by The Cook Report itself; yet Central have many times justified their programme and silenced complainees by attributing the very same statement to the IBA. I have several copies of letters from Central to complainees which firmly response:
"In fact the Senior Television programme officer of the IBA has put on record her view that "the programme offered a proper investigation into the occurrence of Satanism in this country and some of the horrific and criminal practices associated with it, that is her opinion and it is also mine".
Such incestuous strategy will be seen by the commission as redolent of medieval witch trials where if you drowned you were innocent but if you swam you were guilty. The truth is that THERE IS NO AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE WHICH WILL BACK UP COOK REPORT CLAIMS ABOUT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE LINKED TO SATANISM and it is notable that their second statement backtracks on the NSPCCs statement making it clear that the NSPCC cannot confirm the Cook Report cases. The NSPCC statement referred to RITUALISED ABUSE. Any psychologist will explain the difference. RITUALISED ABUSE is a term which covers repetitive and habitual deviant action embarked upon to increase sexual desire. This may but usually does not have any religious framework. What the COOK REPORT was trying to establish was entirely different. An organised and orchestrated plan of recruitment of children who were supposedly being abused in Satanic Rituals because of the requirements of a Satanic Philosophy or belief.
I have already provided the commission with Sandi-Gallants retraction of her original idea of mass child-abuse as an obligatory part of Satanism and her admission that any crimes which she considered to be positively linked with satanic ritualistic activity amounted to a handful of occurrences. This was so devastating to the Cook Report that rather than countermand it with further evidence they have despicably inferred that because the interview was published in an occult magazine it is in some way invalid. The commission is expected to believe every word in its most obvious context when dealing with The Lamp of Thoth magazine but must ignore what appears in others; except of course Deosil Dance where the editor seems to be supporting The Cook Report. You will forgive me for appearing cynical.
In order to further underline my point I have here a copy of a document produced by Kenneth V Lanning of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime at the FBI Academy Quantico, Virginia in OCTOBER 1989. This document is now the most up to date and official FBI source document on the subject of ritualised child abuse and satanism and brings a welcome depth of sanity to the hysteria which surrounds this subject. The research is exceedingly thorough and very well balanced.
In this official training document, Lanning rejects outright that there is such a thing as Satanic ritual child sex abuse. He explodes the current fundamentalist myth which suggest that there is a conspiracy by Satanists to overcome world order and directly criticises the prejudice and bias inherent in the conferences which have previously been set up to supposedly teach professionals on this subject.
He specifically criticises the misuse of fear and hysteria by fundamentalists and also criticises heavily the involvement of some police officers whom he says have brought their own prejudices and hysteria to the proceedings ignoring the normal objective police approach. The document is far too long to appraise in detail but iT ENTIRELY SUPPORTS MY ASSERTIONS THAT THERE IS NOT AND THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANY OBLIGATORY LINK BETWEEN SATANISM AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE. This is a most valuable document for the commission to consider and so I must extract several quotes from it.
" Not all spiritually motivated ritualistic activity is satanic. In fact, most spiritually or religiously based abuse of children has nothing to do with Satanism."
"The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan. Many people don't like this statement, but few can argue with it."
"Law enforcement perspective must focus on crimes and clearly recognise that just because an activity is 'Satanic' does not necessarily mean it is a crime or that it is not a legitimate religious practice."
"Many of the police offices who lecture on satanic and occult crime do not even investigate such cases. Their presentations are more a reflection of their personal religious beliefs than documented investigative information. Some police officers have resigned rather than curtail or limit their involvement in this issue as ordered by their departments. Perhaps such officers deserve credit for recognising that they could no longer keep the perspectives separate."
AND SPECIFICALLY IN RELATION TO THE INTEREST OF THE MEDIA LANNING SAYS":
"There are those who are deliberately distorting and hyping this issue for personal notoriety and profit. Satanic and occult crime has become a growth industry. Speaking fees , books, television and radio appearances all bring egoistic and financial rewards."
The commission will be very interested to hear that Lanning mentions that whenever he has tried to present this information to the Anti-Satanic Child Abuse lobby he has been met with accusations of being an "Agnostic Cultist". Lanning's conclusions are based upon extensive experience in this area and he has lectured on sexual ritualism since 1972. His conclusions are these:
"After all the hype and hysteria is put aside, the realisation sets in that most satanic or Occult activity involves the commission of NO crimes and that which does, usually involves the commission of relatively minor crimes such as trespassing, vandalism , animal cruelty and petty thievery."
AS FAR AS THE FBI ARE CONCERNED FOLLOWING THEIR EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE INVESTIGATING SUCH ALLEGATIONS THERE IS NO MORE INCIDENCE OF CHILD ABUSE OR CRIME WITHIN THE RELIGIOUS FRAMEWORK OF SATANISM THAN THERE IS IN ANY OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPING.
SO WHY DID THE COOK REPORT ASSERT OTHERWISE? WHAT INFORMATION CONVINCED THE COOK REPORT THAT THE FBI WERE WRONG AND THEY WERE RIGHT?
The commission will be aware that I have been able to countermand and devalue virtually every allegation and every source of information that the Cook Report used as and when it has been produced. I have insufficient resources to immediately counteract ALL that the Cook Report have alleged but I have proven that any gaps in my knowledge when filled in invariably serve to throw a different light upon the conclusions made by Central TV. How many times do I have to undermine their arguments to prove that I am right and they are wrong?
The background to the Anti-Occult Campaign is extremely important and very relevant to the commission in order for them to reach a fair verdict. I have shown that the resource material that the Cook Report used was suspect I have shown that their conclusions about me were wrong. I will now explain how the Cook Report were fooled into acting as the puppets of fundamentalists whose sole purpose was not primarily to save children from child sexual abuse but to defame and suppress ALL aspects of the occult, a campaign which all had been involved in for a number of years and which they have made more conspicuous recently.
The importance Central have attached to trying to deflect the commission from considering this aspect can be concluded from the sections in its last statement which deny point blank any fundamentalist involvement by anyone who was involved in the programme. This is a lie and I will presently prove that.
It is a common MISCONCEPTION that fundamentalists have always existed and that currently they are reaching one of their cyclic periods of popularity and that the interest will be sporadic and eventually die down. Those in the forefront of studying this phenomenon on the international scene know full well that this is not the case and indeed the United Nations have for many years perceived the danger to the freedom of religious belief from fundamentalists and seen it as a global condition resulting from the secularization of religious beliefs. On 7 December 1962 the General Assembly of the UN. called upon governments of all member states to rescind discriminatory laws which had the effect of perpetuation racial prejudice, national and religious intolerance and to adopt legislation if necessary to prohibit such discrimination and to take other appropriate measures to combat such prejudice and intolerance.
The Assembly recommended that all governments should through education and all media of information, actively discourage the creation , propagation and dissemination of such prejudice and intolerance in any form whatever including 'the examination and supervision and training of their civil servants, educators and other public officials to ensure that, in the course of their official duties, they respect different religions and beliefs and do not discriminate against persons professing other religions or beliefs.
That directive is as binding on this commission as it is on the Government and directly imparts a responsibility to the broadcasters to ensure that any person compiling a programme which deals with different beliefs is knowledgeable and sympathetic to the rights of people to have those beliefs. It is a sad testimony to the state of our television industry that no training covering this area is mandatory. It this had been the case then the Cook Report on The Devil's Work would NEVER HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO BE PRODUCED.
The U.N. Directive was established following a reportage by Odio Benito published in August 1986 where a parametering of religion and belief is attempted in order that political confusion cannot be applied to the directive.
Mrs Benito continued by saying that ' the right to freedom of though, conscience religion and belief is so closely linked to all other human rights and fundamental freedoms, and so intimately interconnected with them, that it is not possible to enjoy freedom of religion or belief if full realization of other rights and freedoms is restricted or denied'
Further and most importantly the rapporteur says categorically
" IN reviewing the information concering manifestation of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief, it must be borne in mind that such manifestations are not only serious in and of themselves, but are particularly grave because they tend to develop into gross violations of human rights or even crimes against humanity.."
The U.N. is not the only body who had perceived this global outbreak of fundamentalism The World Council of Churches produced a study paper on Secularization which on the subject of fundamentalism points out that " Its manifestations can be seen not only within Christianity, for instance with the rise of charismatic and parish renewal movements and the resurgence of radical fundamentalism but also on the fringes outside Christianity...." "Immediate reactions to these trends have at times been formed by emotional responses as well as by political events, economic manipulation and even military developments which have aggravated underlying religious hostilities and thereby have strength excessively zealous expressions of faith and confrontation mentalities."
In their second statement Central TV sarcastically 'awaits with interest any evidence of United Nations involvement with Mr Bray'. If this statement wasn't enough to reveal to the commission the pernicious, devaluing, biased attitude of persecution with which the whole Cook Report was conducted a simple test of logic would show that in making such a comment CTV are revealing yet again their ignorance and misunderstanding of the matters they were involving themselves in .
For the commissions benefit I produce a photocopy of a letter from Mr Peter Davies the chairperson of the United Nations Association sub committee on human rights. In this letter, following protracted correspondence Mr Davies points out that my recent misfortunes ' give evidence of the present wave of fanatical fundamentalism which appears to be affecting all the major religions' and goes on to say that he has discussed the matter at the UNAs executive committee meeting and has arranged a meeting for me with Emile Culman. Following that exploratory meeting I have been invited to join the United Nations Association and will be discussing the situation with the Religious Advisory Committee in the near future.
The fact that CTV have gone out of their way to deny that fundamentalism was an integral part of their programme and denied that three of the main characters in the fundamentalist movement are actually fundamentalist, shows the importance which this issue has to a proper judgment by the commission and without detaining the commission much longer I will inform them of the background to this very quickly.
The three main characters in the anti-occult campaign are Kevin Logan, Maureen Davies and Audrey Harper. CTV categorically assured the commission that these people are not fundamentalists but they positively ARE fundamentalists and they are ALL working collectively together for one common aim which is to suppress occultism and alternative beliefs within the framework of a fringe Christian organisation called REACHOUT.
Reachout's latest newsletters shows a venue diary clearly listing Audrey Harper and Maureen DAvies as speakers. These lectures are billed as being on The OCCULT BUT detailed examination of their Occult course reveals the title PAGANISM AND THE OCCULT IN BRITAIN TODAY and WHAT TO DO IN YOUR AREA. The commission will note that fundamentalists do not make a distinction between the beliefs of Paganism and Satanism in that ALL occult things are considered evil. This is much the same ignorant view taken by the majority of the populace.
Audrey Harper was included in the Cook Report and was filmed giving such a lecture and making inciting anti-occult statements in the programme. Her damning testimony was taken at face value and was broadcast even though as the Cook Report themselves admit, the Surrey police didn't take them seriously. The commission will note that the Cook Report admit that they KNEW that the accusations Harper had made were hearsay but declined to mention on camera that the Surrey Police didn't consider them real. For CTV to try and make the commission believe that the Surrey Police would refuse to investigate a murder because too much time had elapsed is tantamount to insulting the commission's intelligence. If the Cook Report had investigated further into Audrey Harper's background they would have found that by her own admission she was hospitalised for psychiatric problems in the 60s. In the course of giving many and varied interviews to newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV during the anti-occult campaign she appeared on Anglia TV on October 28th 1988 on the Anglia Live programme. This was hosted by Malcolm Allsop. Harper said that she gave up witchcraft because she was hospitalised as insane.
The text goes:
Now, Audrey Harper, we have over here, now you, I'm right in saying, were a black witch for five years"
Yes?
And you've given it up. Why?
"I had to , because I was admitted as insane into a mental hospital"
Despite any recovery made the testimony of such a person presented as fact, without argument is tantamount to criminality.
The commission already have a copy of the charitable licence of the Reachout trust and will remember that their aims are
"The advancement of the Christian religion by such means as they shall consider expedient especially in relation to the study and comparison of cults and new religions in the light of the bible as it is accepted and taught in the EVANGELICAL tradition of the Christian Church".
In their literature REACHOUT state under their Statement of Faith that
"The whole bible is the divinely inspired Word of God and it has absolute authority in all matters of faith and conduct"
What is this if not the classic definition of fundamentalism?
Members of REACHOUT currently run at around 1500 people, amongst whom are dozens who have claim to have been damaged by the occult. The commission should note that my client file runs at 45,000 people and I can produce all 45,000 who have not been damaged by the Occult.
REACHOUT members live throughout the U.K. and are urged to take action against the occult following guidelines contained in Action Packs produced by REACHOUT. These action packs include an essay on Satanic Ritual Abuse by Maureen Davies which states that REACHOUT is designed to
"monitor the occult problem in this country by doing research into this field, where necessary taking action against some activities and teaching others how to do this".
Part of that teaching involves objecting to Occult Shops. In other Reachout literature members are urged to take action and they are told that Reachout will provide them with advice and help such as
'giving instructions on how to deal with an occult shop opening in your area'.
They also urge members to '
motivate Christians in your area to hand out tracts at an occult shop or fayre.'
and even more sinisterly
'Known addresses of cult/occult members should be sent to us.'
The commission should be aware that I fully realise that this information may seem peripheral but is in fact INTENSELY important to an understanding of the motivations behind the Cook Report.
I am not suggesting that the Cook Report specifically set about to persecute alternative religious faiths but that they were opportunist enough to use the hate and prejudice of others to construct a disgusting and sensationalist programme which they knew was built from a tissue of lies and hearsay and into which they had to inject a scapegoat in order to gel the programme together. Despite my many honest attempts to avoid that outcome they persisted in victimising me and the outcome is this complaint.
On 31st October 1988 the BBC World Service programme Outlook contained an interview with Douglas Harris the founder of REACHOUT. He said
"There's only two supernatural powers which are Good and Evil and if it is not of God it has to come down to be of Satan. They are worshipping the pagan gods. Pagan Gods which have been condemned by the God and only God."
In an interview on radio Leeds, broadcast three days before the Cook Report Maureen Davies is questioned about The Sorcerer's Apprentice. She says
"I would have to object to this shop in principle because of it being a contact centre for these type of things. If you are interested in the Occult and Satanism you are obviously going to go to an occult shop. This shop is openly advertised in Satanic magazines...."
The Reachout Organisation has a leaflet introducing itself and its aims which is sent out to all enquirers this leaflet advertises Kevin Logan's book Paganism and the Occult. This book, published in 1988, has several critical references to The Sorcerer's Apprentice and reviews in detail two cassette tapes which I sell, twisting and distorting the contents therein to underline the author's arguments about the dangers of the occult. In the foreward to the book Logan says categorically that he provided the research and information which went into Geoffrey Dickens dossier on the occult when he began his anti-witchcraft campaign in the spring of 1988. The commission need to be aware that Geoffrey Dickens named one and only one occult supplier in parliament and that was The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
On August 27 Kevin Logan wrote "As you know I am a Christian and I do believe in the FUNDAMENTALS, of my faith"
During September I wrote to Logan and invited him to come and spend two weeks working in my business to see the good we achieved and be educated about the true nature of the occult. He replied on September 14th saying
"Thank you for your invitation to come and work with you for a couple of weeks perhaps you might like to extend the invitation to include Maureen Davies of the REachout Trust? "
Because I refused to have Maureen Davies Logan refused my invitation and on November 3rd Logan wrote me another letter saying
"I notice the bookshop is back in business or at least open. I hope the police find your culprit. I am certainly no firebomber but I shall continue to point out the dangers of such establishments as yours as long as I am able."
To remind the commission Logan was the Vicar who was interviewed at length and shown 'exorcising' children in the Cook Report. Maureen Davies not only attended that church service but acted as Christian co-ordinator on the helplines. Audrey Harper gave testimony in the programme and also attended the Church service which CTV recorded.
In reviewing the Cook Report the Reachout Newsletter said:
"Maureen Davies and Audrey Harper HAVE BOTH HAD INPUT INTO THE PROGRAMME. (I REpeat had both had input into the programme).. and Maureen was one of the official councillors. Some have expressed disappointment in the programme but they received at least 300 calls for help..it resulted in a number of us being interviewed by other TV Radio and newspaper reporters who wanted to make their public aware of the dangers."
Central TV will no doubt retort that it is to be expected that ardent Christians will object to the existence of an Occult shop but there is a great difference between a personal opinion and an organised and systematised prolonged and fanatical ongoing attack and that is what I have been subjected to by fundamentalist Christians and in particular by the three people who I believe dramatically influenced The Cook Report researches and who are continuing their desire to drive me out of business even to this day.
The Cook Report would have the commission believe that their involvement in the Satanistic child-sex abuse issue is entirely independent and autonomous. That the welter of publicity and media exposure and hearsay information which the VERY SAME FUNDAMENTALISTS had obtained for their campaign for the past two years did not affect their judgment or bias. That the inclusion of the same gang of people crying the same old tale and still being unable to produce ANY FACTUAL EVIDENCE to support their claims was valid. Yet the also admit to having to 'RETAIN' Dianne Core in order to beat off competitors from other channels.
In effect the anti-occult campaign was discovering and generating its own sensationalism and hearsay as it went along and that information was being pooled by Reachout and Childwatch and The Evangelical Alliance for communal use in their campaign against the occult. Under those circumstances The Cook report could not have produced an unbiased programme if it had tried.
The scale of this suppression has to be seen to be believed. In the nine month period from March 1989 to November 1989 there were over THREE HUNDRED ANTI-OCCULT ARTICLES WHICH APPEARED IN NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES. And these are the ones I got to hear about. The actual list could run into hundreds more.
Not only do I think there is clear evidence of conspiracy on behalf of REACHOUT but so does my solicitor and he has written to both Kevin Logan and his boss the Archbishop of Canterbury to give them formal notice of the fact that any further harassment of my business will result in legal action.
THE IBA INVOLVEMENT: For the commission to judge this case in isolation would be entirely wrong. As the Cook Report was the culmination of two years of intense anti-occult activity the background is intensely relevant to making a proper decision. The issues of the Lamp of Thoth which the Cook Report have chosen to use as their evidence are two years old. Surely I can count on the commissions patience whilst I produce condensed information spanning the same period?
The commission are aware from copies of my letters to the IBA that I made clear to George Russell at every juncture that I was being victimised and scapegoated by fundamentalists and continually asked him to intervene and stop the victimisation. The commission must realise that the Cook Report was just the culmination of a concerted two year attack on my business and can only be seen in its true light with reference to that background.
The first occurrence which came within George Russell's jurisdiction was an ITN report on 30 October 1988 which included film of the exterior of my business in connection with a hysterical piece which asserted that Children were likely to become possessed by involvement with Halloween. This involved a story about a 16 year old child who attempted to stab his mother. The organisation which promoted this case was REACHOUT.
On October 17 1988 The Independent published the same story reporting that the mother said that the Social Services had psychoanalised her son but that the medical opinion was not acceptable to her. The article continues
"The Social Services,did, however put caroline in touch with the REACHOUT trust...Reachout found Caroline a sympathetic psychiatrist".
Then the article includes an interview with Maureen Davies
"The repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1951 left the market open for anything to come in .. Occultism has now become an acceptable religion" Davies then goes on to berate fantasy books and games and Dungeons and Dragons.
In the ITN news article a shot of my business was used backed by the interviewer saying that children could easily obtain occult items from shops like this. I was not given a chance to counter the argument on screen and I was tricked into allowing the crew into my shop. George Russell rejected my complaint of unfairness even though I can prove that I exclude children from my shop and do not sell to those under the age of 18.
George Russell obviously did not accept the seriousness of my information about the ant-occult campaign and did not realise that he was actually becoming complicit in allowing the fundamentalists to establish a link with child abuse and my business. My efforts to impress this upon him unfortunately alienated him.
But this was not the first time I had made a complaint to the IBA about the fundamentalist campaign . Their correspondence file will reveal that On December 1 1988 I wrote to Lord Lonsdale , then chairman of Border Television about the appallingly biased The Time and The Place programme which was broadcast on that date and which included testimony from Audrey Harper, Kevin Logan and Maureen Davies. Although I had no connection with this programme my object in writing was to warn the IBA NOT to fall for the fundamentalist strategy and look beyond the emotional response to their allegations. Anne Nethercott replied on the IBAs behalf and said that the IBA had vetted the programme but had decided to go ahead with it because of the
'dangers posed to young people in particular by Satanism and the Occult'.
The commission should be aware that this repetitive head in the sand attitude became typical of the entrenched views of the IBA. For example, they never once enquired further of me about detailed information.
On February 10 1989 my solicitor wrote to George Russell and explained that I was being persecuted for my beliefs because of an anti-occult campaign. He sent Russell a 25 page breakdown of the the campaign methods that had been used to develop bad publicity against me.
This was not replied to.
On March 17 I wrote again to George Russell and sent him a copy of the Home Office statement which confirmed that as far as the Home Office were concerned there was no evidence to link child abuse with Witchcraft. This was not replied to.
On April 27 I updated Russell by sending him a copy of THE OCCULT CENSUS which was the first systematic survey of occultism and occult interests. I had produced this at great expense in order to try and convince the media that they were on the wrong track. This genuine census proved beyond doubt that Satanism was a minor part of occultism and that all the occultists who took part, even the few satanists , were intelligent and not criminal in intent.
George Russell ignored it.
On Thursday May 4 after the Cook Report doorstepped me I wrote a long letter to Russell explaining how I had been treated unfairly and besieged by the Cook Report. Russell did not reply to this letter and has never addressed my complaint about the Cook Report activities. In fact I was totally ignored by the IBA until a week or so before the programme was broadcast when a letter from my solicitor obtained a simple letter of acknowledgement from the IBA.
However although the IBA has been demonstrably unable to answer any of my letters it has seen fit to answer the complaints of many occultists who wrote to them. Moreover the IBA even had the gall to inject my name and my situation into their letters to third parties using another oft repeated phrase which, following the facts now at the commissions disposal, are particularly noteworthy. That statement was "
"Mr Bray may believe that this programme on Satanism is part of an organised campaign against him , his business operation and occultism in general. IN our view, there is no evidence to support this claim."
Shortly after these statements began to go out my shop was firebombed.
The commission will be glad to hear that I am coming to the end of my statement.
Perhaps the most important thing to establish is that whilst explaining in detail the conspiracy which has evolved around me I have not lost sight of the genuine need for society to act to prevent child-abuse. I absolutely condemn any form of child abuse and I am as sympathetic as any right minded individual with regard to the victims of child abuse.
In several instances CTV have criticised me of me for not being sympathetic to the special needs of abused children. Of being irresponsible and ignoring the damage and seriousness of the subject. The commission will therefore be interested to hear that as a father and family man I have every sympathy with any victim of any form of child abuse and would immediately inform the authorities if I knew of any such cases. I would not entertain any group or association of individuals whom I believed were involved in child sexual abuse and would not stock or sell any items or impedimentia which I felt would promote child sexual abuse.
Central Television have tried to infer that they have a greater sympathy and care for children who have been sexually abused than I have and that I am ignorant of the real damage and consequences of child abuse. In their self- righteousness they have tried to establish that they are wholly and more experienced in these areas and that I have little if any social conscience.
In answer to this the commission will be interested to hear that I am more than fully conversant with such things for I was abducted by a stranger and sexually molested when I was eleven years old. The Leeds Police records will confirm this and the investigation that followed.
In my instance the deviant who abducted me was not an occultist and he achieved his aims by pretending that he had lost his girlfriend in the woods and wanted me to help him find her. Anyone who has suffered this experience knows full well that the evil which resides in one prepared to abuse children has nothing whatsoever to do with religious conviction and these terrible people are cunning enough to trick naive children without having to resort to the accoutrements of Satanism.
How so much more personally damaging therefore is the slur on my character by the Cook Report when, having had first hand experience of the terrors of child sexual abuse as a victim I am accused of supporting and promoting an organisation which is intent on perpetrating it as an adult. A greater and more scurrilous attack upon my honour could not have been made. A more damaging and permanent disablement of my business could not have been achieved.
If the commission accept my facts and evidence they will see that the vast majority of occultists are right minded and honourable people following their own unique religious beliefs, they, like every right-thinking person also condemn child-abuse and after the Cook Report programme my takings show that a sizeable percentage of these occultists now do not wish to patronise my business because, like most of the millions of people who watched the Cook Report they now also believe that I am in some way involved with child sexual abuse.
For the Cook Report to state that they did not outrightly accuse me of being a Satanist; that they did not state that I was a child abuser and that they did not allege that I took part in murder myself, is pure humbug. To all intents and purposes the vast majority of viewers perceive me to be a promoter and supporter of child abuse and the continuing presence of my business a threat to society.
I remind the commission of what was said:
"BRAY REFUSED TO BE INTERVIEWED AND THREATENED LEGAL ACTION WHEN ASKED TO EXPLAIN HIS PART IN THE CURRENT PROMOTION OF SATANISM."
"WE WANTED TO QUESTION BRAY ABOUT HIS PUBLICATION THE LAMP OF THOTH WHICH HAS CARRIED WANT ADS FOR DEAD BODIES AND ARTICLES ADVOCATING SACRIFICIAL MURDER AND IS THE PLATFORM FOR MICHAEL AQUINOS NEW BRITISH RECRUITING DRIVE."
"MR BRAY - WE WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THE BUSINESS YOU CONDUCT AND ABOUT THE KINDS OF ACTIVITIES YOU PROMOTE. WED LIKE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT ARTICLES PROMOTING MURDER, WITCHCRAFT, ADVERTISEMENTS CALLING FOR DEAD BODIES.
THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO GET INTO THIS BUSINESS WHO WOULDNT DO SO WITHOUT YOU MR BRAY. ."
I have proved beyond reasonable doubt that the allegations against me were false;
I have proved beyond reasonable doubt that the research for the programme was paltry, ineffective, biased and un-informed.
I have proved beyond reasonable doubt that the programme was involved with fundamentalists whose track record and statements show that they want me out of business and that the Cook Report aided and abetted them, knowingly or unknowingly.
I have shown how the IBA were supplied with updates and information which revealed the plot and progression of the hysteria and that they could have easily stopped this programme from happening but chose not so to do even though they admit to being ignorant of the subject save for the information provided to them by the programme makers themselves.
I have shown that not only do I know infinitely more than Central TV and all their advisors concerning the occult but that I also am more knowledgeable about the victims and dangers of child abuse from personal experience.
The effect of the Devils Work has been to disrupt and disadvantage my entire life. It was a witchunt pure and simple. This is not the type of justice , nor the type of television which as a people we desire. Regardless of the mitigating points of legality which Central are depending upon for justification the BCC has to decide whether it thinks that organised and pernicious victimisation of a member of the public in this way is acceptable television.
If you decide against my complaint you will be condemning me to be known as a child-abuser and promoter of murder for the rest of my life with all the implications that that means to myself and my family and my livelihood.
The BCC has no sensible option but to adjudicate unequivocally and condemn the programmes inclusion of my business, berate its makers and vindicate my name.
I have come here for nothing less.
Ends:
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