‘Real Handmaid's tale' community that forced young girls to watch their parents have sex

Warning: The following article contains discussion of child sex abuse that some readers may find disturbing

A cult community which horrifically forced young girls to watch their parents having sex has become the focus of a new BBC true crime documentary.

The community has at times been called the real life version of the dystopian book and TV series The Handmaid’s Tale in which women are subjected to child-bearing slavery.

The cult, known as Gloriavale, is a small Christian group in New Zealand which still exists in a reduced capacity to this day.

In the 1990s, it was infiltrated by a journalist known as Melanie Reid, whose experiences have been made into a new BBC three part documentary called Escaping Utopia.

Several who escaped the cult are interviewed in the new doc, which was given a four star review by The Guardian and The Telegraph.

The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan pointed out that, normally, three hour documentaries means that it is overstuffed with unnecessary details. That is not the case here.

She says of the documentary that ‘Escaping Utopia has almost too much material to be covered even by that generous span’, as well as saying: “There’s so much terrible detail about this cult it barely fits into the show.”

The real story behind the cult is a horrifying one, with the founder Neville Cooper being jailed for 10 counts of indecent assault against young girls.

The documentary is a harrowing watch (TVNZ)

Cooper did so under the guise of education or preparation for marriage.

Among the victims Cooper assaulted, one was left in pain and bleeding after he ‘forcefully inserted a wooden object inside her’.

Others who escape the cult spoke out in the documentary, with one saying: “We had to watch my mum and dad have sex.

“I just tried not to think about what was happening.

“I thought that every father was doing this to their children because in the community they were told to invite their children into their room and show them what sex was like between a husband and wife. It became normal to us."

The cult was set up with the idea of creating ‘Heaven on Earth’, but ran on sexual abuse and female subjugation for years.

One former member who was sexually abused by another at 14 said of the cult: “The women are there to serve the men, to work and have babies.

The cult has been compared to Handmaiden's Tale (TVNZ)

“We were told all the time that if you show off your ankles you are tempting the men and Hopeful would say that men even get turned on by elbows and so we were not to pull our sleeves up.

“So, the girls are responsible for tempting the men.”

She went on to say: “The leaders tell the guys, ‘You can’t help yourself.’ And to the girls it would be, ‘You can say no and stop it happening. Once you have tempted the guys they can’t stop.’

“So you’ve got boys growing up thinking that they can do whatever they like and girls thinking it is their fault if something happens to them.”

The son of Neville Cooper, Christian, also spoke in the documentary about how he runs an ‘underground network’ that helped people escape the cult.

He said: "My dad started the community and, like a king would, wanted a kingdom.

“When I told my wife I wanted to leave, she replied, 'I'm not going to lose my soul.'

“I knew exactly what she meant. She meant, 'I'm not leaving’.”

Christian left behind his wife and 11 children when he escaped.

Neville Cooper died in 2018 with his successor, Howard Temple, also awaiting trial after being charged with indecent sexual assault.

An ongoing investigation into the cult involves 138 potential victims.

Escaping Utopia is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.