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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Shanti Das

‘I’ve been getting 100 messages a day’: Church of Scientology accused of intimidating UK critics

Alex Barnes-Ross outside the London HQ of the Church of Scientology
‘Potential trouble source’ … Alexander Barnes-Ross at the London HQ of the Church of Scientology. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

Alex Barnes-Ross, a marketing director from east London, regularly posts YouTube videos criticising Scientology. In some of them, the former Scientologist, 29, describes his experience of joining aged 15 and becoming its London director of book sales. In others, he talks about his mental health struggles after signing a “billion-year” contract devoting himself to the organisation – only to be kicked out a few years later, labelled a “potential trouble source”.

Other videos scrutinise its finances and ask questions about alleged mistreatment at Narconon UK, a Scientology-linked rehab facility investigated by the Observer last year.

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