"Gay man wins damages after ‘exorcism’ by Church of England parish"

"A gay man has received damages from his Church of England parish after being subjected to an exorcism to rid him of the 'demonic possession' of homosexuality.

The case is believed to be the first time compensation has been paid to someone who experienced the practice of conversion therapy, which the government intends to outlaw...

Miriam Cates, the former Conservative MP and former member and trustee of the church, which is a registered charity, told the BBC last year she had been unaware of Drapper’s case and had never supported conversion therapy...

He left the church in 2016 and three years later made a formal complaint about the exorcism and requested an apology from St Thomas Philadelphia which was supposed to operate under the safeguarding rules of the Diocese of Sheffield.

St Thomas initially claimed there was 'no evidence to substantiate' his complaint. Drapper pursued the issue with the diocese which in 2021 commissioned Barnardo’s to investigate his allegations. The charity’s review was published last year and upheld Drapper’s account of what happened, saying it was a 'supported fact' that he was subject to a prayer session which 'was in our view a form of exorcism'.

Its report added: 'From the evidence available to us it is our view that the session took place as described by [Drapper] and prayers were administered with the intention of changing his sexual identity.'

After publication of the review, Drapper made a legal claim against St Thomas Philadelphia which resulted in an out-of-court settlement and payment of a five-figure sum...

St Thomas Philadelphia did not respond to requests for comment but after publication of the Barnardo’s report it said: 'We have accepted the outcomes of the first investigation and are saddened that one of our community was not cared for in the way we would have liked. We sincerely apologised to them for this.'"