'We could hear the screams': Inside the Jesus Army

Noel Stanton, the Jesus Fellowship's tyrannical leader, died in 2009 before he could be prosecuted for any crimes

A small Christian commune that aspired to create heaven on Earth grew to become a cult in which sexual and physical abuse was perpetuated in plain sight.

The Jesus Army church recruited thousands of people to live in close-knit, puritanical communities in Northamptonshire, London and the Midlands.

One of the UK's most abusive cults, it is now the subject of a new BBC documentary and podcast.

They trace the story from its hippy origins as the Jesus Fellowship, through the high-profile launch of the Jesus Army in the late 1980s, to its shocking collapse in the 2000s when the truth about life inside the church started to emerge.

Two survivors have been sharing their experiences.

'It was just horrible'

Former Jesus Fellowship member John Everett has documented his time in the cult

For John Everett, it started as a dream of community life.

"I always had these yearnings for a lifestyle that was different to the materialistic lifestyle," he explains.

"This feeling that striving for wealth didn't equate to happiness, and I didn't feel attached to material property in the way that a lot of my friends seemed to be."

In 1976, aged 18, John was told that in the village of Bugbrooke, near Northampton, a Christian preacher called Noel Stanton had created a "communal lifestyle" that had attracted hundreds of young people.

After saving some money, John travelled from his home in Kent to experience it for himself and soon saw the attraction.

"I remember a guy called Andy out in the garden. He was doing some weeding and I remember him singing away to himself while he was doing it.

"And so that was the first thing that really struck me, just how happy everybody looked. I could feel myself melting."

For that life, though, sacrifices needed to be made because "any kind of entertainment was wrong," John says.

"So no more cinema, no more television. And from now on, I would have to stop listening to any music."

• Details of help and support with child sexual abuse and sexual abuse or violence are available in the UK at BBC Action Line

Stanton started the Jesus Fellowship Church by converting young local men in the upstairs room at Bugbrooke Chapel

But after some time he began to have doubts, including how children were treated.

He says children were disciplined with birch sticks, which "was meant to be a loving form of correction".

John says: "A young child was taken away from the dining room table to be disciplined, and we could all hear.

"His screams as he was hit, and on that occasion, he was hit at least six times and it was just horrible. It was... humiliating for the child. It was humiliating for everybody. Horrible."

John began documenting what he had seen and heard during his time in the Jesus Fellowship.

He eventually left but was branded a "traitor" and no-one from the group was allowed to contact him.

'You're told you are sinful as a woman'

Philippa has set up a group for survivors of the Jesus Army

The Jesus Army's headquarters was at New Creation Hall, the Grade II-listed farmhouse in Bugbrooke where Noel Stanton lived.

Philippa began visiting it with her family as a child before they moved to the village permanently in 1986, "a couple of doors down" from Stanton.

"You could feel his influence, actually," she says. "He didn't need to be there."

Many teenagers, including her older brother, were separated from their families and housed elsewhere.

This was all part of Stanton's belief that the family of God was more important than one's biological family.

Since cameras were prohibited by the group, Philippa only has a handful of photos of herself as a child

Philippa says when she was 12 and 13, she became aware that a friend of about the same age was being sexually abused.

She says: "You're constantly being told that you are sinful as a woman. That you're distracting men from God.

"You're called a Jezebel. You're belittled at every opportunity by Noel. So who's gonna believe that, you know, a man, an elder, has done those things to somebody?"

But eventually, while still a teenager, she testified in court against an elder who became the first member of the group to be convicted of sexually assaulting a young person.

She said she was shunned by the leadership and fled the group before eventually founding the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association.

When the Jesus Army disbanded following Stanton's death in 2009, allegations against him of numerous sexual assaults on boys emerged.

The Jesus Fellowship Church ultimately disbanded in 2019 following a series of historical cases of sexual abuse.

The church set up its headquarters at New Creation Hall, where Stanton also lived

A report by the Jesus Fellowship Community Trust (JFCT), a group tasked with winding up the church's affairs, found one in six children involved with it was estimated to have been sexually abused by the cult.

It is still thought that some of those accused, including 162 former leaders, may have taken up roles in different churches and Northamptonshire Police is liaising with relevant local authorities to see if any safeguarding action is required.

The JFCT said it was sorry for “the severely detrimental impact” on people’s lives, and hoped the conclusion of the redress scheme would “provide an opportunity to look to the future” for all those affected during a 50-year period.

To date, about 12 former members of the Jesus Fellowship Church have been convicted for indecent assaults and other offences.

Jesus Army members were bussed into cities every weekend to do outreach work and grow the church