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'We May Have Lost Kathleen': Legacy Anguish Of Cult Woman'S Family
Evening Gazette, Middlesbrough, 16 March 1995
A mum who fears she has lost her only child to a cult church has written her out of her will. Margaret Wilson, who lives in a smart bungalow in Boosbeck, will leave her money to animal charities unless her daughter, Kathleen gives up the Scientology cult. SELF-AWARENESS Miss Wilson, of Oldham Close, is convinced her daughter has been brainwashed by the cult which believes self awareness is paramount, according to Collins Dictionary. She changed her will more than two years ago when Kathleen became involved with the Church of Scientology, founded in the 1950s by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard. A clause in the will says that Kathleen, 23, must have given up the sect within five years or the money goes elsewhere. She has pleaded with Kathleen to come home - even for a brief visit - but holds out liitle hope. LOST And her father, 75-year-old Raymond of Brotton also fears his daughter is lost forever to the cult whose members include Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Lisa-Marie Presley. Mr. Wilson, who is divorced from Kathleen's mother, said he thinks the only way to free his daughter's mind is to get her away from the group. Kathleen hit the headlines after her former flatmate, Stephen Cooper of Saltburn, attempted to snatch her from the sect. Mr. Cooper was cleared after a trial at Lewes Crown Court. Mrs Wilson was in court to hear theverdict and said she wished Mr. Cooper had succeeded. "I don't know how she got involved in the first place and I don't blame her friend for trying to get her back." She had been working in a shoe shop in Chichester when she first left Cleveland and Mr. Wilson used to visit her for holidays. Mrs Wilson discovered she had moved to East Grinstead and it was there Kathleen became involved with the Scientologists. JOINED "Since she joined I haven't been able to get through to her," she said. Her mother claims when she phones Kathleen they just put the receiver down on her. "I did manage to arrange a visit but we were never on our own. I was put in another house and Kathleen was out working, day and night," she said. She alleged Kathleen is a skivvy for them and claimed when she tried to talk to her daughter she always looked at them to check she was saying the right thing. SLAVE "They all had fixed smiles on their faces, like zombies." She believes if she stays with them Kathleen will be brainwashed and living as a slave for the rest of her life. "It is terrible, she's my only child."
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