Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Pointing and laughing at religious lunacy for more than half-a-century

Member of the C of E’s General Synod stalked and threatened a gay man, promising ‘I’ll make your life hell’

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IN 2022, several months after Venessa Pinto, above — employed by the Leicester diocese of the Church of England as a lay preacher —began relentlessly stalking Jay Hulme, she was elected onto the Church of England’s national assembly, the General Synod.

This happened despite the fact that Hulme, a volunteer at St Nicholas Church in Leicester, had complained of her harassment the Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, who is a favourite to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

Image via YouTube

Snow, above, not only dismissed the complaint, but accused Hulme of practicing “witchcraft.”

Hulme also reported Pinto’s threats to Leicestershire Police, who took no action.

Soon after, Pinto was one of just a handful of people from Synod appointed to the Crown Nominations Commission, a panel that selects new bishops and archbishops. But all the while, she was sending countless hateful messages to Hulme.

When the church eventually came to realise that Pinto was totally off her rocker, in 2022, Leicester Diocese announced Venessa would be leaving.

Below are some of Pinto’s many messages to Hulme, reproduced by the BBC.

In March 2023 —21 months after the stalking campaign against Jay began and eight months after the Bishop of Leicester told Jay he did not believe him) — the police finally took action against Venessa.

Said Hulme:

I get a phone call from Leicestershire Police [who] basically acknowledged that they made a mess of it. And very soon Venessa was arrested. Her devices were confiscated.

In a statement, Leicestershire Police acknowledged their initial response fell short of the standards expected, adding it continued “to develop its knowledge and training in relation to preventing and detecting stalking offences”.

In May 2024 she pleaded guilty to stalking, involving serious distress or harm and was given an 18-month community order and banned from contacting Hulme for a year.

The stalking, according to Hulme, began after he had rejected advances made to him by Pinto, telling her that he was gay.

Three years ago, Pinto posted a video on YouTube, asking people to vote her onto the General Synod.

Following her exposure in the BBC report, many are revisiting that video, and wondering why this convicted criminal hasn’t removed it. And one commenter asked:

I wonder what is happening to the Bishop of Leicester? He’s the one who truly needs investigating. Yes, this lady is unhinged but hopefully she finds a way to lead a better life and more importantly, Jay finds peace and happiness again. As for Martyn, the Bishop, he seems like a dismissive, arrogant character. To think he’s in the running for Archbishop of Canterbury is stunning. What a mess the church is in.

Hat tip: BarrieJohn

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6 responses to “Member of the C of E’s General Synod stalked and threatened a gay man, promising ‘I’ll make your life hell’”

  1. Matilda Avatar
    Matilda

    Another senior cleric whose hypocrisy and complete inadequacy for the job has been exposed. I’m silently cheering this week cos the Archbishop of Wales has resigned after a damning report about safeguarding, inappropriate behaviour and more among his cathedral staff. He’s a fake. Married, divorced and remarried, he’s obviously trying to keep up with his predecessor, Archbishop Morgan who’d gone through 3 wives! He was chosen out of 6 candidates, three of whom were female and I’d so hoped one of them would get the job….no one did it worse than ‘Andy’ as Archbishop Andrew John liked to be known, kinda made him feel cool and trendy and one of the guys…….!!! Hope Snow does the decent thing and resigns too!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. Vanity Unfair Avatar
    Vanity Unfair

    How to become a Bishop in the C of E: it’s really quite simple.
    http://peterowen.org.uk/articles/choosing.html
    https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/how-is-a-new-archbishop-of-canterbury-chosen/
    Obviously, Chas 3, as the head of the church is involved and obviously the Prime Minister does not, or is not supposed to, play a real part in the selection but why is (s)he involved at all?
    It is time to take Churches out of politics.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
      malcolmjdodd

      No, it is time to take the farce that is religion out of our lives.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Vanity Unfair Avatar
        Vanity Unfair

        I would not do that by force. Some grown-ups still like to play “let’s pretend” and wear fancy dress. As long as they keep their fancies private and do not harm anyone else let them get on with it. And, while we are on the subject, it is time for the whole country to have a properly elected head of state and a properly designed constitution as well. That would be a long-lasting solution.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
          malcolmjdodd

          Absolutely, the eradication of religion should start in schools.

          Like

          Reply
  3. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    When the brain has been addled by the bullshit that is religion, vile attitudes and behaviour by Pinto and her ilk must seem normal.

    Like

    Reply

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