Monday 5 December 2011

Top Spiritual Healer Convicted Of Sex Ordeal


A spiritual healer-to-the-stars has been convicted today of subjecting a female client - seeking treatment for agonising migraines - to three sordid sex ordeals in which he ordered her to strip naked and fondled her.


Ex-Croydon councillor Graham Dare, 57, who proclaims himself the U.K.'s number one clairvoyant boasts a celebrity client list, which includes actress Joely Richardson; Eastenders star Tamzin Outhwaite; tv presenter's Melinda Messenger, Kate Thornton and Michaela Strachan; Emmerdale star Adele silva and Sky's Lisa Aziz.


Dare,(pic.top) of Taymount Rise, Forest Hill, boss of Sensitives Clinic, 31 Hatton Garden, Farringdon(pic.bottom) denied, but was convicted on three counts of sexual assault and will be sentenced on January 6.


Blackfriars Crown Court heard how he 'groomed' the 31 year-old Japanese student during the first three genuine appointments and waived his usual £95 per hour fee until her migraines disappeared.


"The defendant abused his position, he was building up this young lady's confidence and trust in him," prosecutor Miss Heather Stangoe told the Blackfriars Crown Court jury, explaining the abuse began during a fourth appointment on September 14, last year.


"He asked her to take off all of her clothes and although thinking this was unusual she thought it must have been part of the treatment.


"He said the clothes were getting in the way of spiritual healing and she agreed to take hers off, including her underwear, and lied down covered in a towel.


"The defendant's hands moved towards her crotch and he touched her pubic bone and the outer lips of her vagina, which he told her was necessary to connect with energy levels flowing from her spine.


"She was wriggling in discomfort," added Miss Stangoe, but believing the treatment was genuine booked another appointment for September 16.


"The defendant told her to remove her clothes and began to touch her and this time was more focussed on her crotch and while pressing her pubic bone with one hand touched her left nipple with the other.


"This was no genuine treatment, this defendant was sexually assaulting a vulnerable woman while continuing to claim he was a genuine practitioner."


The victim returned on September 20, but insisted keeping her knickers on.


"He said she would have to take her bra off because it was interfering with her spine and said he would have to use his mouth on her," explained Miss Stangoe.


"He said the mouth was a sensitive organ and ten times more effective in treatment and began to put his lips on her hands, arms, legs and abdomen while making a funny noise the complainant thought was all part of the healing process.


"This lasted thirty minutes and by now she was extremely anxious to put her clothes back on, but the defendant told her it was her turn to perform healing on him.


"The defendant took all his clothes off, wrapped a towel around his hips, and asked this young lady to touch him on the body and she placed her hands on his arms and abdomen.


"She began to notice his abdomen area was heaving, but remained convinced the treatment, although unusual, was genuine.


"However, she saw something on his inner thigh that she believed was semen and became terrified and wanted to get out of that clinic as soon as possible."


The complainant made an appointment for the next day, which she later cancelled and after obtaining advice from another spiritualist who dismissed Dare's methods called the police.


When questioned by officers Dare, who has been a spiritualist for over a decade and charges £375 for home visits and £1,256 for one-week residential healing treatments, insisted there was no abuse.


"He denied touching her genitals or nipple or touching her body with his mouth," said Miss Stangoe. "He said she requested to learn the techniques and he allowed her to perform the treatment on him and denied being aroused or ejaculating.


"The Crown say the defendant chose this Japanese lady because she had poor English and was vulnerable and went on to assault her."


The complainant told the jury Dare performed full body massages on her for thirty to sixty minutes, after telling her to strip naked. "He explained to me this was the way to connect the energy flow.


"I did not like what he was doing to me, but because he was serious about his treatments I wanted to tell him nicely.


"I did not want to offend him because he was not going to charge me until my migraines had gone. Looking back the whole thing sounds very strange


On his website, which is how the complainant discovered him, Dare claims heat permanently radiates from his hands and his healing energy has cured patients, where conventional medical therapy has failed.


He says he has communicated with the spirit of the Princess of Wales and also offers contact with the deceased and tarot and palm readings and hires himself out for stag and hen nights as well as other parties and promotions.


Dare claims to help current artists with advice from dead legends such as Picasso and Van Gough, which he can also claims he can extend to other professions such as fashion and design.


He was healing group leader at Battersea Spiritualist Church from 2000 to 2003, where he was also president in 2000, was a school governor, a Croydon councillor and a youth offending community panel chairman.


The Miss England pageant organiser also stood as the English Democrats Lewisham mayoral candidate last year.

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