{"id":1927,"date":"2024-07-20T17:12:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T16:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=1927"},"modified":"2024-07-20T17:12:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T16:12:05","slug":"octogenarian-former-uk-church-leader-charged-with-indecent-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=1927","title":{"rendered":"Octogenarian former UK church leader charged with indecent assault"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1926\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1926\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1926\" src=\"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Rev.-Jonathan-Fletcher-300x160.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Rev.-Jonathan-Fletcher-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Rev.-Jonathan-Fletcher.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1926\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Jonathan Fletcher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A former vicar of Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon, Jonathan Fletcher, has been charged with indecent assault and bodily harm,<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Christianity Today<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> is reporting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Fletcher, 81, was charged at Wimbledon Magistrates\u2019 Court recently for the offence he allegedly committed 25 to 50 years ago while he served as a leader of the church.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The charges stemmed from allegations made against him over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The newspaper reports that dozens of men have recounted past cases of bullying, coercion, and inappropriate behaviour by the retired clergyman. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Some of the accounts include naked massages, ice baths, and sauna visits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Fletcher, a high-profile evangelical voice in the UK, had retired before the allegations were made. However, his former diocese barred him from further ministry, reported him to the authorities, and instituted an investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In his response, Fletcher said the behaviour was consensual even as he apologised for any harm he had caused. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1925\" src=\"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Emmanuel-Church-Wimbledon.jpg\" alt=\"Emmanuel Church\" width=\"213\" height=\"160\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The retired clergyman served at Emmanuel Church between 1982 and 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He is to appear again in court on August 7.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; A former vicar of Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon, Jonathan Fletcher, has been charged with indecent assault and bodily harm, Christianity Today is reporting. Fletcher, 81, was charged at Wimbledon Magistrates\u2019 Court recently for the offence he allegedly committed 25 to 50 years ago while he served as a leader of the church. The charges stemmed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1928,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions\/1928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}