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Ritual abuse dismissed as mythical in Britain

BMJ 1994; 308 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.308.6943.1527a (Published 11 June 1994) Cite this as: BMJ 1994;308:1527
  1. O Dyer

    Claims of widespread satanic and ritual abuse of children in Britain were dismissed by a government report last week. The study was carried out by Jean La Fontaine, former professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics. She looked into 144 allegations of group abuse by paedophile rings and abusive families, as well as 84 cases in which ritual abuse was specifically alleged. The report echoes the findings of a six month investigation in the Netherlands that also found no evidence of ritual abuse of children (see p 1188, 30 April).

    Professor La Fontaine found that there was corroborating material evidence, such …

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