Richard Hoskins

Last updated

Richard Hoskins
Born
Richard Hoskins

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England
Alma mater Oxford University
King's College London
Occupation(s) University Professor (Former),
writer, Criminologist
Website richardhoskins.co.uk

Richard Hoskins (born 1964) is an author and criminologist, with expertise in African ritual crime. [1]

Contents

Early life

Hoskins was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, in February 1964, and educated at Uppingham School, at Bedford School, and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, before a Special Short Service Commission in 3rd Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment. At the age of twenty-one Hoskins travelled to Africa intending a gap year, but stayed from 1986 until 1992. [2]

Upon returning to Britain, Hoskins enrolled at Oxford University to read theology and took a double First, before completing a PhD at King's College London. Hoskins went on to be a senior lecturer at Bath Spa University, [3] and a senior research fellow at King's College London. He has taught religious studies at Shebbear College in Devon.

Expert witness

Whilst working at Bath Spa University, Hoskins was called upon by the Metropolitan Police Service to work as an expert witness in the Torso in the Thames case. [2] He has since been called as an expert witness in over a hundred criminal cases, including numerous high-profile murders, such as those of Victoria Climbié, [4] Jodi Jones and the Eric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu case. [5] [6] [7] Hoskins has been called upon to provide commentary on these cases and the related field by numerous press organisations. [8] [9] [10] [11] He is an expert on African religions. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] He is the only registered multi-cultural expert on the UK national police SOCA database. [2] [19]

Hoskins has made television and radio appearances concerning numerous cases, most notably a documentary for the BBC entitled "Witch Child", [3] [20] [21] a documentary concerned with the Torso in the Thames case [22] and a BBC Radio 4 programme. [23] [24] He is a Patron of the Build Africa charity. [25]

More recently, Hoskins was asked by detectives of Wiltshire Police to examine claims made by "Lucy X" of a VIP satanic sex-abuse ring which included the former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath, as part of two separate investigations by the force into sexual abuse. [26] [27] Fearing that he may be removed from the police database of experts as a result of his revelations, [28]

Personal life

Hoskins has been married twice. He currently lives in London where he writes crime fiction. He is a keen runner and completed the 2014 London Marathon in 2 hours 45 minutes, placing him 7th for all over 50. [29] He lived for four years as a woman, but de-transitioned in 2020. [30]

Publications

Hoskins' first book, The Boy in the River , was published by Pan Macmillan and became a Sunday Times bestseller, [1] receiving critical praise in several press publications. [31] [32] [33]

The Boy in the River was named Gold Winner in the Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards 2013. [34] The panel of judges "highly commended" the "gripping story". [35]

Related Research Articles

Witchcraft, as most commonly understood in both historical and present-day communities, is the use of alleged supernatural powers of magic. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic or supernatural powers to inflict harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. Yet this stereotype has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world". The belief in witchcraft has been found in a great number of societies worldwide. Anthropologists have applied the English term "witchcraft" to similar beliefs in occult practices in many different cultures, and societies that have adopted the English language have often internalised the term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witch-hunt</span> Search for witchcraft or subversive activity

A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East. In medieval Europe, witch-hunts often arose in connection to charges of heresy from Christianity. An intensive period of witch-hunts occurring in Early Modern Europe and to a smaller extent Colonial America, took place about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 executions. The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia, contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea, and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Hopkins</span> English witch hunter (1620–1647)

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"Adam" was the name police gave to an unidentified male child whose torso was discovered in the River Thames in London, United Kingdom, on 21 September 2001. Investigators believe the child was likely from southwestern Nigeria, and that several days before his murder, he was trafficked to the United Kingdom for a muti ritual sacrifice. To date, nobody has been charged with Adam's murder, and his true identity remains unknown.

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Children often acquire religious views approximating those of their parents, although they may also be influenced by others they communicate with – such as peers and teachers. Matters relating the subject of children and religion may include rites of passage, education, and child psychology, as well as discussion of the moral issue of the religious education of children.

Religious abuse is abuse administered through religion, including harassment or humiliation that may result in psychological trauma. Religious abuse may also include the misuse of religion for selfish, secular, or ideological ends, such as the abuse of a clerical position.

Children have been accused of witchcraft, both historically and in contemporary times, in societies that harbor beliefs about the existence of witches and black magic. These accusations have led to punishment, imprisonment, torture, and execution of children.

Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa have received increasing international attention in the first decade of the 21st century.

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Leo Igwe is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D. from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in philosophy from the University of Calabar, in Nigeria. Igwe's human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witchcraft Suppression Act, 1957</span> South African law

The Witchcraft Suppression Act 3 of 1957 is an act of the Parliament of South Africa that prohibits various activities related to witchcraft, witch smelling or witch-hunting. It is based on the Witchcraft Suppression Act 1895 of the Cape Colony, which was in turn based on the Witchcraft Act 1735 of Great Britain.

The Elm Guest House was a hotel in Rocks Lane, near Barnes Common in southwest London. In a list produced by convicted fraudster Chris Fay, several prominent British men were alleged to have engaged in sexual abuse and child grooming at the Guest House in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Labour MP Tom Watson, having heard testimony from Carl Beech, suggested in an October 2012 statement to the House of Commons that a paedophile network which had existed at this time may have brought children to parties at the private residence.

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References

  1. 1 2 Sunday Times . 1 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 The Boy in the River, ISBN   9781447207900, Pan Macmillan
  3. 1 2 "King's College London - News & Events".
  4. ↑ Thompson, Tony (4 June 2005). "Churches blamed for exorcism growth" – via The Guardian.
  5. ↑ Attewill, Fred (1 March 2012). "Police warn children are at risk over return of the witch-finders".
  6. ↑ "Witchcraft Trial: Murder Was 'Wild And Feral'".
  7. ↑ "'Witch torture' trial: Attack on teenager was 'feral'". BBC News. 25 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "BBC NEWS - UK - England - London - 'Witch' child cruelty trio guilty". 3 June 2005.
  9. ↑ "BBC NEWS - UK - Abuses masquerading as religion". 3 June 2005.
  10. ↑ Steele, John. "Aunt helped to torture girl, 8, for being a witch".
  11. ↑ "Social workers considered sending boy to the Congo for exorcism".
  12. ↑ Hoskins, Richard 2005 ‘African Religions and Nature Conservation’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature Continuum
  13. ↑ Hoskins, Richard 2005 ‘Biodiversity and Religion in Equatorial Africa’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature Continuum
  14. ↑ Hoskins, Richard 2005 ‘Muti and African Healing’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature Continuum
  15. ↑ Hoskins, Richard 2005 ‘Muti Killings’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature Continuum
  16. ↑ "Login".
  17. ↑ Hoskins, Richard 2006 ‘The Torment of Africa’s ‘child witches’’ Sunday Times 5 February 2006
  18. ↑ Hoskins, Richard 2006 Witch Child BBC2 60-minute documentary broadcast 6 April 2006 October Films
  19. ↑ Hoskins, Richard 2012 'The Witchcraft Monster Reared in our Midst' The Sunday Times 4 March 2012
  20. ↑ "Witch Child - BBC Two".
  21. ↑ "October Films - New Website Coming Soon".
  22. ↑ "Adam's Story", 3bm for Channel 4
  23. ↑ "Witchcraft & Child Abuse, Beyond Belief - BBC Radio 4".
  24. ↑ "Dr. Richard Hoskins, stacking pews and the Rabbi Relay Ride, Inspirit with Jumoke Fashola - BBC Radio London".
  25. ↑ "Build Africa - Charity fighting poverty through education".
  26. ↑ Evans, Martin (27 November 2016). "Sir Edward Heath sex investigation could be shut down as police expert says satanic ritual abuse claims are 'pernicious fabrication'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  27. ↑ Booth, Robert (27 November 2016). "Ted Heath's accuser 'gave child abuse inquiry fantastical evidence'". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  28. ↑ Kennedy, Dominic (28 November 2016). "Heath inquiry is 'based on flawed claims of devil worship'" . The Times. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  29. ↑ "Virgin Money London Marathon 2014".
  30. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-51193849
  31. ↑ "Crimes of passion". The Economist. 23 June 2012.
  32. ↑ "The Boy in the River by Richard Hoskins - The Sunday Times". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015.
  33. ↑ "Darkness visible". 21 June 2012.
  34. ↑ "The Boy in the River — The Crime Writers' Association".
  35. ↑ "Winners archive — The Crime Writers' Association".
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