Good afternoon,
I am writing to give you a quick update about our ongoing statutory inquiries into safeguarding and charities linked to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
As you may know, one of our inquiries is into Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain. We opened this inquiry in 2014. Watch Tower then initiated what turned out to be protracted litigation against us. We have robustly defended our position. We were right to open the inquiry. We have won our case in every court that has heard the matter, most recently in the Court of Appeal. Watch Tower then decided to try to appeal to the Supreme Court. I am pleased to tell you that I have learned today that the Supreme Court has rejected their application. This means that there are no more domestic routes of appeal open to Watch Tower. We are therefore going to be doing what we have been doing since 2014, which is continuing with our inquiries.
A huge thank you to those of you who have met with me, Nick and Chris over the past few months to share your stories with us in person; and thank you also to everyone who has emailed or who has spoken to us on the phone. There is more work to do but the court ruling is an important milestone.
Please let me know if you would no longer like to receive these occasional updates.
Take care,
Jonathan.
Jonathan Sanders
Senior Investigator
t: 0300 065 2075 | e: [email protected] | w: www.gov.uk/charity-commission