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"DANGEROUS NONSENSE" MAY HAVE CONVINCED SOCIAL WORKERS OF RITUAL ABUSE 
              ANALYSIS: Where the devil is the evidence?

                 By Barbara Jones and Andrew Chapman

                  Mail On Sunday 16.09.90 p12,13,16


Listeners  to BBC Radio 4's respected Today programme  last  Wednesday 
must  have  wondered what on earth was happening to  this  country  of 
ours.

For  there, in calm and measured tones, social workers described  how, 
all  over  Britain,  Satanist groups are  worshipping  the  Devil  and 
subjecting young children to the most ghastly kind of sexual torment.

It  has  all been part of a collective hysteria  following  the  case, 
highlighted  in  these  pages last week, in  which  16  children  were 
forcibly  removed from their parents by the authorities  in  Rochdale, 
Greater Manchester.

Since then it has emerged that several local authorities in the North, 
the Midlands and Scotland, have taken similar action.

And  last  week  19 more children were taken into  care  in  Rochdale, 
Trafford and Manchester.

So  why  should  the  Devil suddenly be in  the  headlines?  What  has 
happened to spark off such feverish activity?

The reason is simple. It appears to have been initiated and encouraged 
by   a  tiny  number  of  "experts"  on  the  occult,  most  of   them 
fundamentalist Christians, who have produced absolutely no evidence to 
back their feverish allegations.

There  are  some  social workers who are very  concerned  about  their 
influence,  and they have told us to look very carefully at a  crucial 
conference held in Reading University on September 15 last year.

There, a group of professionals were told that ritual abuse was  _the_ 
great  undetected  horror story of our times. They  were  implored  to 
return to their own areas and root out those responsible.

But  one  senior  social  worker who attended  this  key  meeting  was 
unconvinced and told us; "I have never heard such gobbledegook in  all 
my life. I heard the most amazing tales of sorcery and witchcraft, but 
there was never one solid fact to back it all up.

"But  we were told that only we, the professionals, could stop it.  We 
were  warned  that we would be disbelieved, attacked  by  parents  and 
ridiculed by the media.

"But  that must not be allowed to deflect us from our  duty.  Children 
knew  what was happening. We had to listen to them. We had to  believe 
them."

The  three  day conference, with the title Not One  More  Child,  took 
place  amid  secrecy which almost amounted to paranoia.  The  chairman 
first  of  all  asked  if the Press was present.  When  there  was  no 
response,   delegates  were  then  required  to  identify   themselves 
individually.

There  were more than 250 present - social workers, police,  probation 
officers  and  NSPCC  staff. There was a  30  strong  contingent  from 
Lancashire.

Dr Marietta Higgs and social worker Sue Richardson, central figures in 
the Cleveland child abuse controversy, were there, too.

The  star  speaker  was Officer Robert J.  Simandl  from  the  Chicago 
police,  who was introduced as "one of the world's leading experts  on 
the ritual abuse of children".

He  said  Satanic abuse was an enormous social problem in  the  United 
States and he feared it was spreading to Britain. he acknowledged that 
no  bodies  had ever been found, but explained that this  was  because 
those  responsible  were so cunning and so expert  at  covering  their 
tracks.

He  held up a plastic sheet. This, he told his audience, was  how  the 
childrens bodies were wrapped up in after sacrifice. He said they were 
usually  buried  in  a  freshly dug grave the  day  before  a  genuine 
funeral.  he told the most harrowing tales of children being  sexually 
abused - usually in caves and underground tunnels. he said he knew  of 
one case in which a child had been cooked alive in a microwave oven.

He   then  handed  out  to  delegates  a  printed  list  of   "satanic 
indicators", things they should look for when questioning children. 

It  ranged  from  physical details, such as missing  finger  tips,  to 
psychological indicators such as bed-wetting and an abnormal  interest 
in death.

Officer  Simandl  was backed up by two other main  speakers.  One  was 
Maureen Davies, a vicar's daughter and former state registered  nurse, 
from  Rhyl, North Wales. She is now director of the Reachout Trust,  a 
fundamentalist  Christian  organisation dedicated  to  combatting  the 
Devil and all his works.

She  told  the  audience  that 35 cases  of  suspected  Satanism  were 
currently being investigated by 14 police forces. She gave no names  - 
and no details.

Also  speaking  was  Judith  Dawson,  a  senior  social  worker   from 
Nottingham,  who  was a key figure in a controversial  abuse  case  in 
which several men were jailed. Sixteen children were taken into care.

She  prepared a dossier claiming that Satanic influences had  been  at 
work. But a joint Nottingham police and social services  investigation 
ruled that the allegations were baseless.

The  social  worker  we spoke to cannot  be  named,  for  professional 
reasons, but he told us: "The longer this went on the more sceptical I 
became. Were was the proof? Where were the bodies?

"But  I admit I did not have the courage to get my feet and  voice  my 
doubts. Everyone was taking copious notes. There was an atmosphere  of 
hysteria around which I found frightening."

The  Reading  conference was followed by others  in  Cardiff,  Bolton, 
Dundee, Lancaster and elsewhere. Mrs Davies told us last week that she 
has spoken at ten conferences in the past year.

She was until five years ago an opthalmic nurse working in HM  Stanley 
Hospital, St. Asaph, Clywd. She then became involved in helping people 
who  had  been  brainwashed by the Moonies and  other  cults,  finally 
turning her attention to ritual abuse.

Mrs Davies said; "Delegates to the conferences gain a thorough insight 
into  the occult. We are talking about sex abuse, physical and  mental 
abuse and degredation," she said.

"There is a grave problem. But the way we are going to deal with it is 
not by bringing back the Witchcraft Act, but by talking confidentially 
with police and social services, so they know what to look for."

Rochdale social services department, now under severe pressure because 
of  the  way it has handled cases in its area, has sent  delegates  to 
such  conferences. There have also been Rochdale staff conferences  on 
ritual abuse.

Reachout  has produced a series of confidential papers, giving  advice 
to professionals.

This is an extract from a section headed "What Goes On in the  Rituals 
In  Britain  Today?" which, we warn you, some people may  find  deeply 
disturbing.

"Children  are given drugs by injection, medicine, or in  drinks  that 
are laced. This is either to sedate them or cause them to hallucinate. 
Candles are also laced with drugs. Adults dress up in robes and  masks 
and goats' heads.

"The children are taught to hate God, jesus, the Church and everything 
that  is  good.  During  the ritual, children  have  to  drink  blood, 
sometimes from human skulls.

"Children are placed in coffins and buried alive. When they shout  for 
their parents, they do not come, but eventually, perhaps hours  later, 
the Satanist leader comes to show he is the only one who really cares.

"Children  are  made  to  eat insects such  as  beetles  and  spiders. 
Perverted sex takes place as the children are passed around as objects 
for the entertainment of adults."

The extract concludes: "In certain cases the children themselves  take 
part  in  sacrifice. Teenage girls and adult women have  to  sacrifice 
their  own  children. This makes them guilty of murder which  is  then 
used  to bring about another aspect of fear, showing them they are  in 
the system and can't get out.

"After  the  sacrifice, they take the heart, spleen and eyes  and  eat 
them.  The children are taught how to remove these parts of the  body. 
What  is not eaten is stored. Some of the bodies are melted down.  The 
fat  is used for candles and the bones ground down and the  powder  is 
used as an aphrodisiac."

There  has  never  been a criminal prosecution in  this  country  even 
remotely  substantiating  the most extreme of these  allegations.  Yet 
many social services are taking them very seriously indeed.

Another  adviser who regularly addresses professional  conferences  is 
Diane  Core, who runs a Childwatch charity in Hull. Earlier this  year 
she addressed the Royal College of Physicians.

She  told  us that 4,000 children a year are  being  sacrificed.  "The 
Rochdale case is only the tip of the iceberg. Women are having  babies 
in order to sacrifice them on the altar of Satan," she said.

Is  it really possible that such a number of children could  disappear 
without the police, health visitors, the social services, GPs,  family 
members, neighbours or schools, realising it?

Reachout  has  produced a video which has been widely  distributed  to 
social services departments. At one point, a woman witness describes a 
scene at a Black Mass:

"This lady in a black robe came forward with this little baby and  she 
laid it on the altar. It was breathing, but it wasn't crying, and then 
the High Priest used the athame or ceremonial dagger to cut the babies 
throat. 

"I just couldn't believe it, but by then I was led forward and  lifted 
up  on to the altar, The baby's blood was daubed all over my body  and 
then  the  High  Priest  raped me. I then had  to  sign  in  blood  on 
parchment saying that I would never, ever reveal what had happened  in 
the coven. If I did, I would die."

The  charity insists that this is not fiction, but will  not  disclose 
any further details. We spoke to Officer Simandl in Chicago last week, 
and even he admits he has a credibility problem.

"My  superiors  and colleagues are sceptical when I  tell  them  these 
stories.

"But  it was so interesting being in England and Scotland  talking  to 
people there.

"The  rooms  were packed, and everyone wanted to know  more  and  more 
about what was going on."

Five  families in a Rochdale council estate also want to know what  is 
going on. Their past few months have been a nightmare.

They  have not been allowed to see their children and, until The  Mail 
On  Sunday intervened, they were prevented by a High Court  injunction 
from talking to anyone about what they were suffering.

Over the past week our reporters have spent much time with one  family 
in  particular. They are a respectable family and, unlike some  others 
involved  in  this case, have absolutely forbidden their  children  to 
watch video nasties.

Their 11 year old daughter was taken into care in June and  they  have 
not seen her since.

Although  our  journalists are not trained social  workers,  they  are 
convinced that the allegations against this family are baseless. 

One local councillor, Peter Thompson, says: "I have known this  family 
all my life and these accusations are dangerous, damaging nonsense."

Last  week  Manchester's  Chief Constable  james  ANderton  concurred, 
announcing that there was no evidence.

Police  officers  we  have spoken to are  extremely  angry  about  the 
injustice  this family has suffered. Yet still they cannot  see  their 
daughter  -  and that pain is being repeated at homes  throughout  the 
country.

In  1953,  Arthur Miller wrote one of the greatest plays of  the  20th 
century.  In  The Crucible he described the  17th  Century  witchcraft 
trials  in  Salem  -  and the terrible true  story  of  parents  being 
condemned by the fantasising and hysteria of children.

Is  it  possible  that a second Crucible is taking  place  in  Britain 
today.


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