Following the launch of the Police Pagan Association’s #SaferPaganSpaces pledge on 15 January, we have seen a strong and welcome response from across Pagan and Heathen communities. Groups of all sizes, from national representative organisations to online communities and smaller informal moots, covens, and groves, have already signed up, demonstrating a shared commitment to safety, accountability, and ethical leadership within faith spaces.
The pledge has also sparked important and constructive conversations about safeguarding, leadership responsibilities, and community expectations. While safeguarding is often formally defined in relation to children and adults at risk, it has far wider relevance. Effective safeguarding underpins the safety of everyone, strengthens trust within communities, and contributes to broader efforts to reduce violence against women and girls (#VAWG).
We have received thoughtful enquiries from groups at varying stages of safeguarding development. These include groups without safeguarding policies, those with outdated frameworks, and others where policies exist but are not easily accessible to leaders or members. We have also been asked about the responsibilities held by those who lead groups, whether informally, organisationally, or within ritual and faith-based settings. Some concerns have been raised about whether the #SaferPaganSpaces pledge places additional or unreasonable expectations on Pagan community leaders. We want to be clear, it does not.
The pledge is designed to support, not burden. Its purpose is to ensure Pagan and Heathen communities meet their basic safeguarding responsibilities with confidence and clarity. For groups with existing policies, this means making them accessible, understood, and applied when concerns arise. For those without policies, it means providing guidance to develop them, alongside training on how to respond to concerns, escalate risks appropriately, and refer matters to relevant statutory or safeguarding bodies where required.
This work is informed by the PPA’s involvement, in various capacities, in several high-profile cases in which Pagan belief, ritual, or perceived spiritual authority was exploited to facilitate abuse. These include the cases of David Mace and Kenneth Gavens in Bristol, who carried out predatory sexual offences against women and girls under the guise of Pagan ritual and initiation; Peter Petrauske and Jack Kemp in Falmouth, who presented themselves as High Priests of a coven while concealing sexual abuse; and Steven Sanders, convicted in 2025 of multiple rapes and sexual assaults against male and female children over a period spanning more than two decades, during which Paganism was used as a control tactic over vulnerable victims.
While cases such as these are thankfully rare, they highlight the serious harm that can occur when safeguarding is absent, misunderstood, or not acted upon. In addition, the PPA is currently supporting three ongoing enquiries across the UK involving allegations of sexualised behaviour, unwanted advances, and sexual assault by individuals in positions of authority within Pagan and Heathen groups. A recurring and deeply concerning theme in these cases is that those who raised concerns were often dismissed, disbelieved, gaslit, or ostracised, sometimes as a result of the alleged offender misusing their influence to undermine or discredit victims. It has also been evident that many group members lacked a clear understanding of safeguarding principles or how to respond to allegations of misconduct or criminal behaviour.
Sexual offending within Pagan communities is no more prevalent than in other communities, faith-based or otherwise. However, this does not diminish our shared responsibility to act proactively. Safeguarding is about reducing risk, protecting dignity, responding effectively to concerns, and having the confidence to escalate issues when necessary. By strengthening safeguarding practice, we uphold our duties to children and adults at risk, contribute to tackling violence against women and girls, and help create genuinely safer Pagan and Heathen spaces for everyone.
Following our public consultation, our Community Liaison Officer, Charlotte, has compiled a set of frequently asked questions responding to many of the themes raised since the launch of the #SaferPaganSpaces pledge. These will be published on our website shortly, and we are sharing them here to support transparency, learning, and continued dialogue across our communities.
#SaferPaganSpacesPledge