Tylers Green: Rev Michael Hall 'spiritually abused' parishioners

Rev Michael Hall was vicar at St Margaret's church in Tylers Green from 1981 to his retirement in 2000

A Church of England vicar "spiritually abused" parishioners for 20 years, report has found.

Rev Michael Hall, who died in 2021, used "coercion and control" on a "significant number" of people at St Margaret's church in Tylers Green.

A safeguarding probe and independent review was triggered after a former member of the congregation took their own life in 2020.

The Bishop of Buckingham said there was "no excuse" for Hall's actions.

Rev Hall, who had been vicar at the church near Penn in Buckinghamshire since 1981, retired in 2000.

The Diocese of Oxford said the current vicar raised "serious concerns" about his behaviour when he learned of the death in January 2020.

Its safeguarding team found Rev Hall "had spiritually abused a significant number" of the congregation.

It also said he "engaged in sexual inappropriate behaviour" with members, witnessed by children and young people.

The diocese encouraged other witnesses to come forward and commissioned an independent Learning Lessons Review (LLR).

'Fear of hell'

In the report, Rev Hall is described as a bully, who used "coercion and control to silence dissent, isolate the congregation, make them dependent on him and to exploit them".

"He emotionally abused people and used scripture and fear of hell to control them," it said.

Attempts by concerned parishioners to reason with the vicar "persistently failed" and "such attempts at resolving complaints may actually have exposed victims/survivors to further harm".

The report said churchwardens and other members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) did not report Rev Hall's abusive behaviour to the diocese, and when it did become aware no action was taken.

Thirteen recommendations in the report include raising awareness of congregations to spiritual abuse and encouraging people to come forward.

The diocese said it had intended to offer Rev Hall the opportunity to respond to the allegations, but his death in June 2021 meant this was not possible. His family declined to contribute to the review.

The former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries, said there had been three factors which "made it impossible to lance the boil of this terrible situation".

He said there were no official complaints and Rev Hall had "made it clear he would institute proceedings against anyone he thought slandered or libelled him" with a "simmering violence that people sometimes sensed in his personality".

He had also always managed to have a majority of the PCC on his side.

The Rt Revd Alan Wilson, the current Bishop of Buckingham, said people had "described feelings of being trapped and experiencing distorted family lives that persist to this day".

"I am in no doubt that what happened was wrong and I think that there can be no excuse for Hall's actions," he said.