Video-recorded disclosures of two siblings emerged describing ritual violence activities in a Hampstead “cult” including human sacrifice murder. The UK court processes judged that the mother “coached” the children to make false allegations. In parallel, Marie Black, Jason Adams and Michael Roger were found guilty of child sexual abuse purely based on historical accounts of five children.

The presentation outlines two cases that illustrate the “unbelievable” nature of organized child abuse and what aspects make court rulings “unsafe”.

The presentation aims to compare the Hampstead where the videos were watched by 4 million individuals world-wide with the little that is known about the “Norwich Three” case due to court reporting restrictions.

Materials posted on websites, books and videos were reviewed alongside discussions with whistle-blowers, relatives and friends of people involved.

The disclosures in the Hampstead case were very extreme but similar accounts can be found in books by Sara Scott (UK) and De Camp (US). Those accused of sexual abuse claim that the children have been coached by their mother to make these allegations–the view that the judge adopted. In the Norfolk case, 7 of the 10 defendants were cleared of child sexual abuse allegations but three individuals were found guilty. It remains unclear what the basis was for the conviction as the disclosures could have been classed as the result of “coaching”.

Anyone operating in forensic settings should familiarise themselves with the “hall of mirrors” that cases involving child sexual abuse routinely constitute.

The author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.