Aleem Maqbool, religion editor & Steve Swann, BBC
It seemed like a harmless encounter.
It was the summer of 2021, and Jay Hulme, a volunteer at St Nicholas Church in Leicester, was on the door, welcoming people. That’s when Venessa walked in.
“There was something awkward about her,” he recalls. “But I assumed it was about being in a new church with new people, and we were just coming out of the pandemic. There was no red flag.”
Venessa Pinto, employed by the Leicester diocese of the Church of England as a lay preacher – a non-ordained person who can lead worship – returned a few more times to Jay’s church.
A few weeks later, they both happened to be at a midweek service in Leicester Cathedral. When it was over, she approached him and asked to speak privately. They stepped into the quiet of the old cathedral graveyard.
Then she asked him out.
“I was very taken aback, because I didn’t know her. And I was like, ‘I’m gay, but thank you for asking.’ But she asked me if it was because she was black.”
Jay was startled by the question. He gently reiterated that he could not go out on a date because he was gay – and also not in the right place for a relationship.
“I left it thinking, ‘That was very awkward’, but I think, ‘That’s the end of that.’”
It wasn’t.
In fact, it was the beginning of a devastating campaign of stalking and harassment. And when Jay complained, the highest authority in the Church in Leicester – a top contender to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury – said he didn’t believe him. Instead, he accused Jay of witchcraft.
Read also: A Statement from the Diocese of Leicester