Again, any reasonable reader of this post would understand it to mean that the Council of Principals is illegally appropriating funds donated for charity and redirecting it either into their own pockets, or into luxurious accommodation or clothing for themselves. This is entirely false and highly defamatory of the Council of Principals.
The True Position
It is a matter of public record that Mrs Margaret Cathcart-Bryce, a wealthy, long-standing church member, donated substantial funds to the church while alive to renovate Chapman Farm, and that when she died in 2004, the Council of Principals was the sole beneficiary of her will, enabling the church to purchase suitable properties in central London, Birmingham and Glasgow, for congregants to meet.
Your blog post contains several outright falsehoods. Chapman Farm contains neither a jacuzzi nor a swimming pool, and Mr Jonathan Wace does not own, nor has he ever owned, property in Antigua. All cars owned by the Church Principals were bought out of their own salaries. Your assertion that church members are required to collect one hundred pounds per day, or they will face the ‘wrath’ of Mr Taio Wace, is likewise wholly false.
The Church is open and transparent in all its financial dealings. No monies collected for charitable purposes were ever used to maintain or renovate Chapman Farm, or to purchase or upgrade the UHC headquarters in London, or to personally benefit the Principals in any way. Again, the suggestion that the UHC or its Council of Principals is ‘venal’, ‘duplicitous’ and ‘vain’ is highly defamatory both of the Church and its Council, and likely to cause serious reputational damage. This increases your liability.
Blog Post of 23 February 2013: ‘The Drowned Prophet’
On 23 February 2013, you published a post titled ‘The Drowned Prophet’, in which you made a series of defamatory and deeply hurtful assertions about the death by drowning in 1995 of Mr and Mrs Wace’s firstborn child, Daiyu, who is considered a prophet within the UHC.
UHC members are well aware that while all prophets are, theoretically, equal, one is far more equal than others. The Drowned Prophet has become central to the cult of the UHC, with her own rites and separate observances. Doubtless there was an initial desire on the part of Mazu Wace to keep her dead daughter [Daiyu Wace] ‘alive’ in some sense, but she milks and exploits her association with the Drowned Prophet at every available opportunity. Very few of the brainwashed are brave enough to ask (even in whispers) what made a drowned 7-year-old deserving of prophet status. Still fewer dare note the strange coincidence that Jonathan Wace’s first wife (always airbrushed out of UHC history) also drowned off Cromer beach.
The assertions and insinuations contained within this paragraph could hardly be more offensive, hurtful, or defamatory of Mr and Mrs Wace, or of the UHC as a whole.
The suggestion that Mrs Wace ‘milks’ or ‘exploits’ the tragic death of her young daughter is a vile slur and highly defamatory of Mrs Wace, both as a mother and as a Principal of the church.
Moreover, a reasonable reader is likely to conclude from your use of the phrase ‘strange coincidence’, when referring to the accidental drowning of Mrs Jennifer Wace, that there is something suspect, either about Mrs Jennifer Wace’s death, or about the fact that Daiyu Wace met her end in a tragically similar fashion.
The True Position
On 29 July 1995, 7-year-old Daiyu Wace drowned in the sea off Cromer beach. As is a matter of public record, and easily discoverable through court records and press coverage of the inquest into her death, Daiyu was taken to the beach in the early morning by a church member who hadn’t asked permission from Daiyu’s parents. Mr and Mrs Wace were devastated to hear their daughter had drowned while swimming unattended.
It is part of the belief system of the UHC that some deceased members of the church become ‘prophets’ after death. Religious belief is protected under English law.
A true account of Mrs Jennifer Wace’s tragic death is likewise available through court records and press accounts of the inquest. Mrs Jennifer Wace died on a Bank Holiday afternoon in May 1988. An epileptic, she suffered a grand mal seizure in the water and in spite of every attempt of nearby swimmers to save her, she drowned. Numerous witnesses gave evidence at the inquest that Mr Jonathan Wace was not in the sea at the time Mrs Wace drowned, and that he ran into the water upon realising what was happening, but was too late to save his wife. Mr Wace was distraught at his first wife’s untimely death, and far from wishing to ‘airbrush’ her out of his personal history, he has commented publicly on the fact that the tragedy deepened his burgeoning religious faith, to which he turned for solace. Any suggestion to the contrary is false, malicious and highly defamatory of Mr Jonathan Wace.
Furthermore, it is highly defamatory to describe the church as a ‘cult’ or to suggest that its members are ‘brainwashed’. All members of the UHC attend the church of their own free will and are able to leave at any time.
In conclusion…
Emails between ex-UHC member Mr Kevin Pirbright and Sir Colin Edensor
Kevin Pirbright
20 March 2013
Lawyer’s letter from UHC
To: Sir Colin Edensor
Dear Colin,
This morning I got a lawyer’s letter from the UHC ordering me to take down my blog or they’ll make me pay, take me to court etc etc, the usual thing they do to all ex-members. Good! I want this to get into court. But I haven’t got money for a lawyer so I wondered if you could help me as I don’t think you can get legal aid for defamation. I’m doing this for all the brainwashed, including Will. Light has to be shone on what these bastards are doing.
The book’s going really well. Plus, everything they’re doing against me right now is just adding new chapters!
Best,
Kevin
Sir Colin Edensor
20 March 2013
Re: Lawyer’s letter from UHC
To: Kevin Pirbright
Dear Kevin,
I’d be delighted to help with lawyers’ fees. I recommend my own lawyers, Rentons, who are already aware of the UHC’s nefarious activities with regards to our son. Keep me posted on developments and very good news that the book’s going well. I think it will make a big difference.
Sincerely,
Colin
An excerpt of an interview with actress Noli Seymour in Zeitgeist magazine, January 2014
I ask about the two small Chinese characters tattooed just beneath Seymour’s left ear: new additions to her already extensive collection of body art.
‘Oh, I got them done last month. They mean “Jïnzi”; “gold”, in English. It’s a reference to the Golden Prophet of the Universal Humanitarian Church.’
I’d been told that Seymour won’t be answering questions on her membership of the controversial UHC, but as she’s brought it up, I ask what she makes of persistent negative rumours about the church.
‘That isn’t something Noli wants to discuss,’ says Seymour’s PR man, but his client ignores him.
‘Oh, please,’ she says, rolling those dazzling baby blues. ‘There’s something SO sinister about wanting to help the homeless and give kids who’re carers a holiday, right? Seriously: do people not have better things to do than bash a place that does nothing but good?