The rise and fall of the British cult that hid in plain sight

The Audio Long Read

The Guardian

Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Philippa Barnes was a child when her family joined the Jesus Fellowship. As an adult, she helped expose the shocking scale of abuse it had perpetrated By Barbara Speed. Read by Robyn Addison. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:09.6	Bonjour, this is Julia Bradbury, and I've just been uncovering Normandy's hidden gems with Britney Ferries.
0:15.4	After one bite of the fresh French-themed cuisine on board, my holiday had started.
0:20.4	On land, there were retro sidecar
0:22.0	tours, barefoot hikes across shifting quicksands and even a visit to a bee farm. So with
0:27.9	adventures like these waiting, why settle for any old holiday? Uncover the Uncommon
0:32.9	with Brittany Ferries and discover more at Guardian.com forward slash uncommon holidays. This message was paid for by Brittany Ferries. And discover more at Guardian.com forward slash uncommon holidays.
0:37.9	This message was paid for by Brittany Ferries.
0:44.7	Welcome to The Guardian Long Read,
0:48.9	showcasing the best long-form journalism covering culture, politics and new thinking.
0:53.5	For the text version of this and all
0:55.1	our long reads, go to the Guardian.com forward slash long read.
1:03.3	Hi, I'm Barbara Speed, the deputy head of opinion at The Guardian, and the author of the long read
1:09.4	you're about to hear. The piece is about a cult called the Jesus Fellowship and the survivors who brought it down.
1:16.6	I first spoke to the main subject of the piece, Philippa, three years ago,
1:21.6	and ever since then, I followed the story of the group, which banned everything from Christmas to Crisps and inflicted
1:28.2	physical and sexual abuse on hundreds of people. My reporting involved speaking to other survivors,
1:34.9	lawyers, journalists, psychologists and police officers, and visiting Northampton to do archive
1:41.2	research and see the sites where the cult operated.
1:50.4	If you would like and are able to support the continuation of this kind of in-depth reporting,
1:53.9	you can support The Guardian through the link in the show notes.
2:00.0	We're not owned by a billionaire and we rely on the support of our readers and listeners like you.
	...

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