Vicar at Sheffield church branded woman with cross and locked her up naked in decade-long abuse, court told

Hilary Alflatt, from Northallerton, is said to have treated his accuser, which cannot be named, like 'a slave' between 1983 and 1992 during his tenure in the city, the BBC reported.

Giving evidence at Hull Crown Court on Wednesday, March 24, his alleged victim said much of the abuse took place at Mr Alflatt's vicarage.

The retired 87-year-old, previously known as Malcolm Alflatt, is accused of seven offences.

In her testimony, the woman told the court the abuse began in the early 1980s after Mr Alflatt made her make 'life vows' of poverty, obedience and chastity.

She said she was told that to disobey them was 'to disobey God'.

The woman said she would be regularly 'summoned' to the vicarage and beaten with a bamboo cane.

She was also forced to lie naked on the bed and given at least '50 strokes' with the cane on one occasion in the early 1990s, the court heard.

On another occasion, she said the defendant called her 'his slave' and made two cross-shaped marks on her arm with a hot needle.

She said: "The agony was indescribable. I've never experienced such pain. I was absolutely shaking.”

She said she had endured 'a life of hell for 10 years' before finally speaking out. Jurors heard she had undergone a 'ritual of release' to free her of her vows.

Asked why she did not report the abuse sooner, she said she ‘didn't know how to get away from him or get released from these vows’.

She also denied having an affair with the defendant when being cross-examined by defence barrister Kathryn Pitters, who put it to her that it was ‘effectively a sado-masochistic relationship’.

Mr Alflatt, of Harewood Lane, faces five counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of false imprisonment.

He has been ruled unfit to plead, so jurors will not return verdicts on the case but must decide whether he committed the offences alleged.

NEWS: Willy Collins memorial: Sheffield Council bosses ‘reach out’ to family over changes wanted by officials