An FIEC church deacon has been jailed for child sex abuse. We must learn the lessons

Last month, Premier was one of only a few media outlets to report that a 61-year-old deacon in a small congregational FIEC church in Hemel Hempstead was convicted on nine counts, including rape, indecent assault and indecency with a child and sentenced to nine years in jail.

The offences took place over 30 years ago, when the two girls were aged between 12 and 16 and he was between 14 and 19.

This case did not make national headlines – unlike the Rev Chris Brain, Rev Mike Pilavachi or John Smyth - Mr Michael Toms’ abuse did not fit neatly into the ‘Church of England / Roman Catholic Church fails at safeguarding again’ narrative.

But despite the smaller platform, the patterns of power, manipulation and secrecy are depressingly similar.

Having walked with many survivors of abuse in many different church contexts and spoken to someone close to the victims of Michael Toms, it seemed right to attend his sentencing. To do so was to witness something of the tragedy caused by human sinfulness. In the waiting room the accused carried the bag he had been told to pack, his family and friends talked quietly to one another, wiping tears away as they took turns to say their farewells. In another room, the survivors and their families gathered. Their faces drawn from carrying the effects of the abuse for decades, their hopes set on this next hurdle bringing some kind of closure. Then when the clerk appeared, everyone entered the court together, the families sitting on either side of the gangway, all eyes on the guilty man, who had been led away only to reappear minutes later, separated from the main court by a soundproof glass screen. 

Of those mentioned above, only Brain has had to stand in the dock as Toms did. In the late 1990s Smyth, who was in Zimbabwe at the time, faced charges of culpable homicide, but the case collapsed for procedural reasons, and he died before facing a court in England. Others such as Pilavachi have never faced criminal charges but nonetheless have harmed many by their ungodly behaviour. 

In court it all comes out. Her Honour Judge Loram KC told Michael Toms his actions had had, “a catastrophic impact,” on the life of one of his victims, going on to say, “No doubt at all, if it were not for you, her life could and would have been different.”  

She drew attention to Toms’ arrogance, both when committing the crimes and during the court case. Deeming his actions at the time to have been both conscious and brutal, Loram concluded, “You thought they were of so little importance that you could do whatever you wanted,” and that, “you manipulated them to your own ends and their detriment.” She acknowledged that over the years he had built a life and a family, but she told the court that she had also seen a “glimpse” of the man he had been when he “tried to demean the victims, as not worthy of belief.” 

Michael Toms was found to have exploited the position of responsibility, if not trust, he held in the youth group. One victim remembered, “You took advantage of my quiet nature, and decided that I would be a target for your sexual tendencies…you planned what you were doing and knew that I would keep quiet after telling me, ‘Don’t tell anyone what happened’, after that first time. How could I have told anyone?  I was 12 years old and didn’t even know what had happened.”

The barrister for the prosecution reminded the court that Michael Toms had shown no remorse and by pleading not guilty had put the women and their families through the trauma of reliving their experiences in court. One victim said, “I messaged you twice. To ask for an apology maybe, an explanation, an acknowledgement of what you had done. You didn’t respond, I guess that’s your arrogance.” The other said, “You had so many chances to apologise and admit what happened, but you didn’t because of your arrogance and cowardice.”

There is no doubt that the unwillingness of Toms to take responsibility for his actions, further harms victims, but it also confuses those who know him. It is said that abusers groom cultures as much as individuals,  a reality that is seen, on the one hand when reports speak of the “formidable invisible web” in which John Smyth entrapped his victims, and on the other, the ‘myth of homogeneity’ which stops those who have only experienced the positive aspects of a person’s character taking allegations of abuse seriously.

It seems that Alexandra Road Church was no different. They were so certain of Michael Toms innocence that they made him a director of their new legal structures and allowed him to continue leading church services, even after he had been formally charged by police. The church is only now coming to terms with what has happened. In a statement published after the sentencing they said it had followed advice from Christian Safeguarding Services but “…with hindsight, we as a church, are truly sorry for the misjudgements we made…” 

A recent report from Durham University set out four lessons, learned from the testimonies of those who were harmed by Pilavachi. 

1. The need to understand, “…the dynamics of spiritual and religious authority, and the structures that are needed to keep power safe.” 

2. The need to recognise “…the harmful ways in which power and vulnerability factors can intersect,” in church communities, as, “The more intimately people share about themselves in worship and fellowship, the more vulnerable they are, and the more safeguards need to be in place.” 

3. The need to acknowledge, “…the mixed nature of any event or situation in which people might believe God to be present, and to nurture a healthy scepticism about themselves and others.”

4. The need for those with responsibility to have “…greater awareness and understanding of the ways their responses to abuse can either compound the harm already suffered or bring healing.”

These lessons are not new, they echo those learned in so many reports and reviews, but that does not make them any less important. For it is only when our church communities embrace these findings that we will be able to stop the silence, unmask the manipulation and start to use what power we have to help the vulnerable.

In a statement, the two victims of Michael Toms said, “The impact of non-recent sexual abuse is devastating and life-long, but now that justice has been served, we can at last start the healing process.   We would encourage anyone living in the shadows of the trauma of sexual abuse to report it to the police.”

As one survivor of abuse said, “…the most therapeutic thing of all has been that this has come out into the open. Our experiences are true, we’re not crazy, it’s not just us!”