Up: Martin Poulter > Scientology Criticism > UK Media Archive
Cult member denies her mind was controlle
Court gets rare and detailed insight into world of Scientology
The Independent, 10 March 1995
By TIM KELSEY A young cult member whose best friend and former flatmate allegedly tried to 'rescue' her from the sect told a court yesterday that she had signed a 'billion-year' contract to Scientology. Kathleen Wilson, a 23-year-old former shoe shop worker who left her job to live near the sect's headquarters, said that in the contract she agreed to decrease the 'power of the enemy' and increase the religion's strength. She also gave a detailed and rare insight into the working of one of the world's largest and most controversial cult religions. Miss Wilson said she had undergone 'auditing', a type of counselling in which members reveal their inner problems - called 'withholds' - while holding on to tin cans which are connected to a machine called an E-meter. The court has heard how her former flatmate, Stephen Cooper, 27, feared she was being brainwashed. He told detectives after his arrest that her mother was worried she had been imprisoned. However, yesterday Miss Wilson denied being a 'robot' who had been hypnotised and imprisoned by the sect, and said she was happy working at the Saint Hill Castle HQ, in East Grinstead, West Sussex. Mr Cooper is alleged to have tried to snatch her back just days before she was due to fly out to Los Angeles to undergo further training. Scientology was founded in 1959 by L Ron Hubbard, an American science fiction writer who believed that it was possible for individuals to reach a state of immortality by following a detailed system of mental examination and therapy which he called Dianetics. Miss Wilson told Lewes Crown Court, in East Sussex, that she joined the cult after being given a leaflet and then taking a number of courses. The jury heard that Scientologists wear a navy blue uniform and work at the cult's castle from 9am to 10pm for pounds 33 per week. Miss Wilson also disclosed that the castle grounds are patrolled by security guards who have walkie-talkies and high-powered torches. She said that new recruits undergo counselling until, after many years, they reach the state of spiritual ecstasy which is known within the cult as level 8. At this point, they become an 'Operating Thetan'. The cult has an internal disciplinary organisation called the Rehabilitation Progress Force. She disclosed that acts against the religion are called suppressive acts and people who commit them can be 'disconnected' from the church - the equivalent of excommunication. Miss Wilson said that during auditing 'you are asked questions. When you have problems it is to help you. There is an E-meter which is a device to pick up any reaction you have to a certain thing that is giving you trouble, like distress or something like that. The meter is round and has a dial on the front and a knob on the side'. John Tanzer, for the defence, asked Miss Wilson: 'Are you being put into a light trance in these sessions?' She replied: 'No, nothing happened.' Mr Tanzer said: 'Were you ever hypnotised during these sessions?' 'No,' she said. 'You go in as you are and come out as you are.' She admitted signing the billion-year contract to the church but said she was free to go if she wanted, adding that although she agreed to 'uphold the standards of the religion' it did not make her a robot. The prosecution alleges that Mr Cooper helped to try to snatch Miss Wilson back when he jumped out at her as she walked through the castle's gardens. But the attack was foiled when other Scientologists came to her rescue and bundled her on to a staff bus. The alleged kidnap attempt came just hours after Miss Wilson met her former best friend, Lorna Bowden, and Mr Cooper for a meeting in the castle's pavilion. Miss Bowden and Mr Cooper, her boyfriend, who had both shared a flat with Miss Wilson, in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, had gone to the church to talk to her about the training trip to America. Miss Wilson was accompanied at the meeting by two senior church members and the discussion was stopped when she said she had to attend a staff meeting. After his arrest, Mr Cooper said that Miss Wilson 'no longer had a mind of her own' and was being hypnotised by the sect. Mr Cooper, a shop manager, of Saltburn-by-the-Sea in Cleveland, denies attempted kidnap and affray. The case continues.
Up: Martin Poulter > Scientology Criticism > UK Media Archive