Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

268 The United Kingdom, Ritual Abuse in
The ritual abuse scare was exported to the U.K.
by several avenues. The most significant took the
form of presentations of the SRA perspective by
Americans at conferences for social workers.
Eventually, a number of Britons became involved
in the SRA topic, and began to present themselves
as “experts” in satanism and ritual abuse. The
most serious SRA specialists and social workers
were conservative Christians. A number of
governmental reports figured prominently in the
U.K. scare. Had the initial 1989 report—which
was suppressed—been disseminated, much
anguish and unnecessary government expenditures
would have been avoided. At it turned out, it
was not until a completely new report was
commissioned and issued in 1994 that SRA was
terminated as a public issue in the U.K.
The first report, which came to be called the
JET (Joint Enquiry Team) Report, arose in the
wake of the first major UK ritual abuse case, which
took place in the city of Nottingham, in the East
Midlands. It was referred to as the Broxtowe Case
from the name of an estate at which incest was
alleged to have occurred. A total of seven children
became wards of the state in October of 1987.
Charges were filed in February 1989, and convictions
were eventually obtained.
Foster parents were instructed to note anything
the children said about their treatment. As a result,
bizarre accusations emerged alleging the sacrifice
of animals and infants, abuse by strangers, “witch
parties,” and the like. These new accusations,
recorded in diaries kept by foster parents,
prompted a division between social workers, who
took these new allegations seriously, and the
police, who dismissed them. Law enforcement
authorities, concerned that defense attorneys
would use the ridiculousness of the new allegations
as a basis for rejecting the children’s testimony
about actual abuse, conducted a separate
investigation and issued a critical report which
became known as the Gollom Enquiry. Many of
the social workers disagreed with the police, who
they appeared to believe were trying to discredit
the children. Reflecting obvious contamination,
the children’s accusations closely matched a list of
SRA “indicators” developed in the United States.
In the face of the interdepartmental division as
well as the emergence of similar allegations at new
sites with other children, the Director of Social
Services and the Chief Constable created a team of
two policemen and two social workers with no
prior involvement in the case. This four-member
group, designated the Nottingham Police/Social
Services Joint Enquiry Team (JET), set to work on
July 10, 1988, and investigated the situation for
five months. Their 600 page report, subsequently
referred to as the JET report, was issued at the end
of 1989. The health secretary immediately recognized
the value of the document for preventing
future miscarriages of justice and directed that a
shorter, revised report be prepared for general
circulation the next year. It was, however,
suppressed, and never circulated.
The team investigated locations where SRA
ceremonies allegedly took place and human
remains could be found. They discovered that
none of the underground rooms, tunnels, secret
passageways, or dead bodies existed. The children
claimed to have observed a wide variety of diabolical
activities. It turned out, however, that the
wilder allegations did not begin to emerge until
after February 9, 1988, when an SRA “expert” had
briefed the foster parents on “satanic indicators.”
Foster parents were instructed to address their
children about these “indicators.” The JET team
concluded that the situation had been contaminated
by this approach:
We had not found any physical corroborative
evidence in the Broxtowe case and no longer
believed the children’s diaries substantiated
the claim of Satanic abuse. In our view they
reflected other influences and were open to
alternative interpretations. Our research
indicated that nobody else [in other
countries] had found corroborative physical
evidence either. All the evidence for its
existence appears to be based upon disturbed
children and adults claiming involvement
during interviews by social workers,
psychiatrists, and Church Ministers who
already themselves believed in its existence. It
seemed possible that Satanic abuse only
existed in the minds of people who wanted or
needed to believe in it. In the USA the result