During his summing up, Judge Richard Twomlow touched on the church’s two-witness rule and told the jury it meant anything alleged to have happened in private “can never be proved” unless both people involved agree.
“Almost all sexual activity, whether consensual or not, happens in private,” he said.
As a result, Sewell’s first victim had to “challenge” him at a judicial committee convened by the church, he said.
The judge added: “How effective that can actually be as an actual judicial inquiry may be open to doubt.”
Significantly, given the church’s claim that no details were retained in respect of historic abuse allegations against Sewell, the letter to elders states: “Information concerning an individual accused of child molestation, proved or otherwise, should be placed in the congregation confidential file and marked ‘Do Not Destroy’ and kept indefinitely.”