MEPO: the 1969 Met Police report on the cult

The Met Police report on Scientology generated a considerable amount of paperwork.

It went though different versions and was reviewed by different people. It was sent to other police forces e.g. via Interpol, and to government. It - or its approx. contents - was leaked by the German police (possible suggested route = German police > German ministry > German press, who spoke to the cult about it). This resulted in a number of defamation suits brought by the cult against the Met, including in the UK; then there was a legal settlement, involving cult solicitors, court papers etc.. And in the meantime it seems other police forces were prevented from seeing it.

The legal settlement itself was perhaps one of the reasons why Met Police activity subsided.

So you can imagine there's a lot of space in the police files taken up by this matter.

Here is the covering letter sent to German police at Interpol Wiesbaden on 6 October 1969.
You'll see that at the top it says 'Confidential - for use of Police only'. Maybe the Germans missed that bit.

Document source: MEPO 2 10283/2, UK National Archives

Here's the first page of the report.
Report is dated 4 October 1969, so 2 days before it was sent to German police.
Also marked as confidential.

Page 2 of the report.
The first shareholder of HASI (presumably holding one share) is redacted.
This is a little odd.

Here's page 3 of the report.

This page states Jane Kember and David Gaiman are running HASI.

The page also mentions the officers of the company (directors and company secretary), but one director and the secretary both have names redacted.
Again, this is a little odd, as the officers of a company - under English Law - are publicly listed. Today, you can go online to Companies House and get their names. Or was the law different in 1969?

Presumably these officers are neither Kember nor Gaiman, as then the names would not be redacted.

I'm trying to get an understanding of which names they are redacting. Perhaps names that have not been mentioned in published documents? e.g. the media.

Here's page 4.

A long account of the e-meter.
Mention of the Victoria government inquiry; cult publications; cult financial model; cult dictionary and the twisted meaning given to words.

Here's page 5.

Mention of the cult's activities, and of the Foster inquiry.

A discussion of the dangers posed by the cult. The paragraph starting "The authorities..." has a long quote from the Minister of Social Security.

Discussion of what the government can/can't do. Mention of cult member involvement in conspiracy and false allegations.

Final paragraph discusses blackmail issues around auditing info.

Here's page 6.

Mention of brainwashing as a technique for obtaining victims' assets, at the top of the page.

A long para about the ships owned by the cult, the sea org, the whereabouts of the ships, and Elron's whereabouts.

A paragraph about the power of the cult, defence/attack technique, and action taken against critics including writs for libel.

A para about vitamin E and its use in the cult.

A para about Hubbard: his background, his organisations, a bit of history.

Fina para starts discussing info received from the FBI.

Here's page 7.

A continuation of discussion of info obtained from the FBI. The allegations are that Elron was fined for petty theft (17 August 1948 in San Luis Obispo, California), and that he had been declared a bankrupt (16 December 1952 in Philadelphia, Penn).

Next para: Elron's claimed enormous following, and his visits to other planets.

Next para is about a loan offered to an African country in 1967, believed to be Malawi, in exchange for cult presence in the country. Offer was refused.

Then a long para about the Victoria (Australia) inquiry, and a long quote from that report.

Then a short para about UK assets: said to include a hotel, a transport group, estate agencies, a garage, a chemical supply company, a hairdresser, and "numerous country houses".

The German police had in their request for info suggested that Elron/cult might be connected to American Business College (present in Germany) but Met report says there's no trace of that in UK.

Note: I.C.P.O., mentioned in final para, is Interpol (International Criminal Police Organisation).

nice sauce

The report underwent changes, and continued to be sent to other agencies by the Met up until either 1972 or 1973 (the files reflect some police confusion on the final date).

Thank you!!

All kinds of things erupted after the cult found out about the report and its allegations. I'll post anything more about the report itself in this thread, and the stuff about the legal case in a separate thread.

I've amended the thread title to include the year, as there appear to be other, earlier, police reports too.

There are other National Archive files apart from the MEPO series e.g. Department of Health. Have these been scanned and uploaded?

Can I have a caek covered in chocolate Smarties?

close.......

With chocolate buttons AND Maltesers (around the edge) also good. Good random colour too, the kind of the essence of Smarties.

Very creative, but kind of too organised?

Oh, I missed the fact that it has up-ended KitKats around the edge. Kool.
And bits of Flake tossed in the centre.