Charity Commission Appoints Interim Managers at Barnabas Aid as Safeguarding Review Launched

The Charity Commission has appointed interim managers to oversee the governance of Barnabas Aid, a Swindon charity that aims to assist persecuted and impoverished Christians, following the launch of an independent safeguarding review. The Commission has also opened a statutory inquiry amid ongoing investigations into allegations of donation misuse. According to one report, its global operations are based at Ash Industrial Estate, Kembrey Park.

The charity’s founder, Patrick Sookhdeo, 77, was convicted in 2015 of sexual assault on a female colleague and of witness intimidation, according to a Wiltshire report, but remained involved with the charity until April 2024. That month, Sookhdeo and his wife, Rosemary, the charity’s international director, were suspended after an investigation by the board’s independent law firm into allegations raised by multiple whistleblowers. The couple, who are 81, were accused of allegedly receiving £1.3 million between 2009 and 2024. These are allegations, not findings.

In September 2024, the Charity Commission began an inquiry into allegations of unauthorised payments to trustees and related parties, and of inappropriate control by the founders. The Commission later restricted any charity transactions over £4,000. Wiltshire Police arrested a man in his 70s and a woman in his 60s on suspicion of fraud by false representation and money laundering, and both were released on bail. The reports do not state the outcome of these police inquiries.

A separate account, reported by The Washington Post, said Barnabas Aid accused Julian Dobbs and his wife, Brenda, of receiving $28,400 in questionable expenses. The couple denies any wrongdoing. Those claims are the couple’s position and the charity’s accusation, and no outcome has been reported.

The interim managers, Edwina Turner and Catherine Gibbon of Anthony Collins LLP, have been tasked with taking full control of the charity’s administration, assets, records, banking and governance. They will investigate historic decision-making and related-party arrangements, and will protect and recover charity assets where necessary. The international operations are being managed by Colin Bloom CBE. Accounts differ on the details of the founders’ roles, and the reports do not give a single account of how each decision was made.

The independent safeguarding review will examine the allegations raised by whistleblowers in 2024, an effort to protect people who may be vulnerable (Proverbs 31:8-9). The review will also cover the wider Barnabas Family.