Theos-Talk Archives (January 2005 Message tt00456)

Most Theosophists who make statements about Theosophical history appear 
extraordinarily lazy: they don't bother to consult the original sources.
Pedro's question about why the Sydney Police didn't prosecute Leadbeater 
is a case in point. Pedro lives in Sydney. All the Police files on 
Leadbeater are in the New South Wales State Archives in Sydney. Pedro 
doesn't have to believe my report of the Police files (in "The Elder 
Brother" and my thesis) or even those of Ian Hooker (now Presiding Bishop 
of the Liberal Catholic Church of which Pedro is a priest) in his MA 
thesis. Pedro can read the original documents in the Police file in the 
State Archives. The Police concluded that Leadbeater was "a sex pervert" 
but that his boys were so dominated by him that they would not give 
evidence against him, and therefore a conviction could not be obtained in 
any court action. This is not an uncommon sort of outcome of Police 
inquiries everywhere: that a crime has been committed will not lead to a 
conviction in the absence of evidence. It is a particular problem in 
cases involving violence and/or sexual abuse within families.
A document of considerable importance is not in the Police file: headed 
"Precis of the Leadbeater Police Inquiry" it was prepared by a member of 
the executive of the Sydney TS Lodge who had examined the Police evidence 
and been briefed by the Police. It includes a report by a pre-pubescent 
boy who Leadbeater had attempted to masturbate.

Dr Gregory Tillett