Friends encouraged me and I joined the church. I wanted to become connected, to be a practising Christian, and since I've taken that step I've mellowed and matured. Behind the image, however, is a man facing turmoil and the conflicting demands of his career, a loving family and his church leaders.
Members donate ten per cent of their salary to the church, often more.
They are told who to date, who they can marry, even how often to make love. The symptoms were similar to those described in the literature on mind control, and the techniques to which they had been subjected fitted in with that. This cut them off from the natural family and previous friends. In some cases all contact had been severed. Marcus Gayle agreed to take a Daily Mail reporter to a church meeting.