WHO IS PAUL STURGESS?

In March 1986, Derry Mainwaring Knight – who I have covered more in depth here and here – appeared at Maidstone Crown Court charged with obtaining money from the church, rich and famous by deception.  The case was reported globally because of the nature of it’s subject – Satanism.

Mainwaring Knight was a self-styled Satanist, who managed to obtain over £215,000 from rich Christians in order to buy artefacts he said would help free him and others from the clutches of the devil.  The trial heard from many people from all different walks of life.  One of those was Paul Sturgess.

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PAUL STURGESS, THE COMMITTED CHRISTIAN

Sturgess was a civil servant who took to the witness stand during the trial, having described himself as a ‘committed Christian’ who was associated with the Church of England working party into exorcism.  Has anyone ever heard of this working party?

Here’s an article where you can read more of his testimony:

The odd thing about Sturgess is, his name also crops up in connection with another person of very dubious character…

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PAUL STURGESS, THE FRIEND OF HARVEY PROCTOR

A year later and Paul Sturgess again appears in a newspaper article.  This time it’s in connection with disgraced former MP, Harvey Proctor, and his use of ‘rent boys’.

Sturgess sparked a security alert after it had emerged he had been taking young boys in to the House of Commons to meet Harvey Proctor.  When confronted, he refused to give details of his position in the House of Commons, but confirmed he had known Proctor for eight years and saw him regularly and he admitted he had taken young boys in to meet Proctor.

Sturgess had also introduced a young man to Proctor named Mark Thane, aged 24.  Thane was looking for work and Sturgess knew that Proctor was looking for a research assistant so arranged for the two to meet.  However, Thane stated that he felt he was ‘set up’ from the outset for Proctor’s sexual benefit.  He found him intimidating and accused Proctor of plying him with alcohol, adding:

I was sickened by what took place.  I was very confused and felt no one would listen to me if I had made a complaint against an MP.

Of course we never discussed the job.  By then I had realised it was just used as a lure.

Sturgess had told me he had introduced other young men, also gay, to Proctor.  I imagine they endured a similar fate.

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So just WHO IS the mysterious civil servant and expert on exorcism, Paul Sturgess?  I believe he may have lived in Earls Court, but what was his job at the House of Commons? Where was he procuring the young boys and men he was introducing to Proctor?  Just how much of this went on inside the Commons – right under the noses of other MPs?  Did he know Terry Dwyer/Allen, who met Proctor at a Conservative Cocktail Party?

 

If anyone can shed light on the mysterious Sturgess, there are a number of us who would be intrigued to know more.