A CHURCH minister has been cleared of raping a member of his congregation who told the jury she recalled the assault in a “flashback” the night before she was due to see the police.

Pastor John Wilson has been found not guilty on the direction of the trial judge of all seven sexual allegations made against him by the woman.

Judge David Hatton QC told the jurors the witness said she had a vivid imagination and sometimes interchanged what was real and what was not.

She wrote in her journal about the Liberty Pentecostal Church in Keighley being involved in the sacrifice of people and animals that she conceded did not occur.

Judge Hatton today directed the jury to find Wilson, 70, of Shann Avenue, Keighley, not guilty of two charges of rape and five allegations of indecent assault made by the woman.

Wilson was also cleared, at the close of the prosecution case at Bradford Crown Court, of six charges of indecent assault and an allegation of conspiracy to commit indecent assault made by other women who attended the church.

He is still on trial for 12 allegations of indecent assault, three counts of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and a sexual assault charge.

His wife, Mary Wilson, 79, also of Shann Avenue, was cleared on Judge Hatton’s direction of a charge of conspiracy to commit indecent assault. She is still on trial for allegedly aiding and abetting indecent assault.

Church pastor Laurence Peterson, 59, of Eric Street, Keighley, was acquitted of an offence of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and a count of aiding and abetting indecent assault. He still faces charges of aiding and abetting indecent assault and conspiring to commit indecent assault.

Judge Hatton told the jury to amend dates on some of the other charges to reflect the fact that the complainant may have been older that she first thought when she was allegedly abused.

He said the woman who alleged rape had dissociative identity and her evidence was not such that Wilson could be “properly and safely” convicted on.

She had no recollection at all of being sexually abused by the pastor until she experienced a flashback the night before she was due to see the police as a possible witness after reading about Wilson’s arrest in the local paper.

Giving evidence in the trial, she said she suddenly saw herself lying on the floor like a rag doll with Pastor Wilson moving on top of her.

She claimed Wilson raped her at his home during a private prayer session.

Barristers for all three defendants said their clients would not be giving evidence in the trial.

The jury is expected to begin considering its verdicts next Tuesday.