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Charismatic Pastor Faces Jail for Sex Assaults

PA News, UK
May 6, 2004
Shenai Raif
news.scotsman.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Thursday May 6, 2004

An evangelical church leader is facing jail tomorrow after being convicted of being a sex pest.

Pastor Douglas Goodman preyed on members of his congregation of young women worshippers to satisfy his lust.

He took advantage of at least two women who held him in high regard as their spiritual leader and father figure, the Old Bailey heard.

Goodman’s charismatic preaching style helped boost the coffers of the Victory Christian Centre to a reported £7 million.

But it was closed down by the Charity Commission 17 months ago after it was found to be inexplicably in the red.

The Commission’s findings are being studied by the Metropolitan Police Fraud Squad which is also investigating Goodman.

A Commission spokeswoman said: “We opened an investigation due to complaints about the misappropriation of funds and personal benefit to Pastor Goodman and his wife.

“We have been liaising with police throughout the inquiry.”

Goodman’s downfall came after four women aged 17 to 32 complained that he had made sexual advances to them when he was head of the church in north London.

Miss A said she had an affair with him after he indecently assaulted her and raped her.

Goodman, 47, a father-of-four, of Turnberry Lane, Collingtree, Northampton, had denied 14 charges and was found guilty of four following a retrial.

The jury cleared him of two indecent assault charges against Miss A, now 33, but could not agree on the rape charge.

He was found guilty of two indecent assaults on Miss B, 19, which occurred after taking her to a cinema.

After the first assault, Goodman apologised and said they had to put themselves “in the path of temptation” again to prove they could beat it.

But the temptation had been “too much for him” and he had assaulted her again in the cinema.

The teenager later made a half-hearted attempt at suicide because she thought she was in the wrong.

He was also convicted of attempting to indecently assault Miss D, 26, in his car, and perverting the course of justice by getting another church member to threaten Miss C, 17, during the police investigation.

The seven women and five men could not reach verdicts on the other charges.

Judge Gerald Gordon gave Goodman bail overnight but warned all options were open to him in sentencing.

Goodman was mobbed by supporters as he left the court. Some of the followers from his new Victory to Victory church which meets in a Wembley school hall in north London, began singing gospel songs.

John Coffey QC told the second jury: “He was the pastor of that church – he was its spiritual leader.

“He acted in a predatory fashion, singling out those who were vulnerable.

“He targeted mainly younger members of the congregation, posing as a paternal figure, rendering them susceptible to his advances.

“He abused his position and their trust.

“He was a charismatic leader. He was so respected in the church that during an appreciation day for him and his wife, they were crowned King and Queen.”

Mr Coffey said the church in Kilburn had been well attended, with a congregation of 3,000 who paid over 10% of their salaries.

Goodman chose young and vulnerable members of the congregation to fondle and showered them with gifts – paying for holidays and presents.

The women said that when they complained to church elders, they were ordered to leave the church.

When he was approached by the elders, whom he had appointed, Goodman told them “I have let a couple of girls get too close”, the court was told.

He refused to resign and said one of the girls had approached him naked in a hotel room, demanding: “Pastor, come and make me scream.”

Goodman, a former bus driver, was never ordained but performed his own ordination of ministers for the VCC, the second fastest growing individual church in Britain at the time.

Goodman did not give evidence in court but members of the church said they believed the sex allegations were made up to discredit him.

Defence barrister Courtenay Griffiths QC told the jury: “He may be guilty of a moral failing, but this is not a court of morals. He is not on trial for infidelity or hypocrisy.”