ANTHONY BURNS, CHILD SEX OFFENDER FROM WISBECH, EVADES JUSTICE FOR 25 YEARS BEFORE CONVICTION

In December 2010, it was revealed that Anthony Burns, a 54-year-old man from Back Road, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, had evaded justice for a quarter of a century due to the inaction of Jehovah’s Witnesses when informed about his child sexual abuse. Burns had repeatedly assaulted a girl starting from when she was just nine years old, with the abuse spanning from 1977 until 1984, when the victim finally disclosed what had happened.

Despite being confronted about his crimes in the 1980s, no immediate action was taken by the religious organization. Burns denied four charges of indecent assault, attempted rape, and rape but was ultimately convicted after a trial. The abuse occurred in locations including Eastbourne and Northamptonshire during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

During the sentencing, Judge Charles Wide QC criticized the Jehovah’s Witnesses community, saying: “It is very unfortunate the Jehovah’s Witnesses community dealt with a complaint in 1984 in a wholly inappropriate way, seemingly more concerned with their own reputation than doing justice, but I acknowledge they were very different times.

“I sincerely hope their processes have been changed radically since then. It is because of their involvement that these matters were not reported. You were challenged at the time by two witnesses and could have made a clean breast of it but you did not and during the trial, you had the gall to accuse them of lying about it.”