2025-09-01
51 分钟This is The Guardian. I'm Barbara Speed,
the Deputy Head of Opinion at The Guardian and the author of the long read you're about to hear.
The piece is about a cult called the Jesus Fellowship and the survivors who brought it down.
I first spoke to the main subject of the piece, Philippa,
three years ago, and ever since then I've followed the story of the group,
which banned everything from Christmas to crisps and inflicted physical and sexual abuse on hundreds of people.
My reporting involved speaking to other survivors, lawyers, journalists,
psychologists and police officers and visiting Northampton to do archive research and see the sites where the cult operated.
If you would like and are able to support the continuation of this kind of in-depth reporting,
you can support The Guardian through the link in the show notes.
We're not owned by a billionaire and we rely on the support of our readers and listeners like you.
Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy the piece.
This episode discusses child abuse and themes that some listeners may find distressing.
Take care when listening.
Until she was six, Philippa Barnes was surrounded by things that were hers.
She had a favourite pair of red and white striped dungarees and a long garden with a strawberry patch.
She had a close-knit family, a mum, dad,
two brothers and a sister and grandparents who lived near the family home in Surrey.
When her mum made lemon meringue pie,
she would pass the curd pan out of the window to where Philippa was playing so she could lick it clean.