Miriam Cates: Tory candidate was trustee of church that ‘endorsed’ conversion therapy

The authors were also told that exorcisms being carried out “were often spoken about by church members” and that on one occasion “there were celebrations in the congregation because a parent stood up and spoke of an adult in their family, who had been ‘delivered from the sin of homosexuality’”.

As a director and trustee at the charity behind the church, external from September 2016 to September 2018, Mrs Cates, had safeguarding responsibilities for those who attended.

Mr Drapper, who first raised the allegations with the church in March 2018 and lodged his formal complaint in 2019, said he had continuing trauma as a result of the incident, which occurred at a “vulnerable” time in his life, while he was trying to reconcile his sexuality with his Christian faith.

His complaint, which Miriam Cates said she was never made aware of, was not formally submitted until November 2019 after she had left the church.

All aspects of his complaint were upheld by the investigation team – but their report, completed in February 2024, was only published by the diocese after it was leaked to the BBC.

The diocese told the BBC in a statement that it had been working “urgently” for the past month towards publication, subject to “light” redactions.

While the report references the general attitudes and culture around homosexual members and the practice of “deliverance” to change their sexual orientation, it did not rule on any individual’s involvement.

A report on the church’s current behaviour found that “prayers, or indeed any actions, which seek to change a person’s sexuality [are] not accepted by Church leaders today in the way it may have been ten years ago.”

The BBC has seen social media posts from Mrs Cates made in November 2012, which suggest she attended a conference hosted by a third party at the church which Mr Drapper has described as an “exorcism training weekend”.

Audio from the conference, which the BBC has not verified, suggests it involved practising a prayer of repentance “for giving place to any demons … including demons of… homosexuality… lesbianism”.

Mrs Cates denies attending an “exorcism training weekend”.

She said she “did attend a conference at the Church in 2012, although I have no diary records of the time, and to the best of my recollection, this was a standard Church conference with a series of seminars, bible teachings and worship.

“I have no recollection of the content or title of any of the seminars that took place at the conference because it took place well over a decade ago. “