Scotland: Gilbert Deya has been arrested and held in Dungavel Immigration Centre, after a tabloid-reading court official spotted him at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
The millionaire preacher, who was wanted on an international warrant for questioning over a child trafficking ring in his native Kenya, was spotted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week.
He was supporting a couple involved in a civil paternity case.
It is understood that one of the court officers remembered him from a Daily Record story in September 2004 in which we revealed he had fled to Scotland to escape the warrant.
The Daily Record has been covering the Deya story in detail since he fled to Scotland almost two years ago in an attempt to escape justice.
EXCLUSIVE: BABIES 'BISHOP' ARRESTED—Daily Record, 14th June 2006.
Kenya: Contrary to what I claimed in a recent comment, charges against three women associated with preacher Gilbert Deya have not been dropped. Mary Deya, Miriam Nyeko and Rose Kiserem claimed the case against them was defective, but the senior magistrate who heard the appeal was not impressed:
She found the application by the defence to be an attempt to delay the case and dismissed it, saying it was not in good faith.
The women are charged with harbouring a stolen child. Miriam Nyeko is also charged with fraudulently obtaining a birth certificate. by pretending to be the mother of the child.
Court thwarts bid to have case against Deya's wife dropped—The Standard (Nairobi), 17th March 2005.
BBC Scotland's Frontline Scotland programme last night looked at Archbishop Gilbert Deya and his 'Miracle Births'. For those of you outside Scotland, the programme is now available on the BBC's website as a RealMedia stream: The Bishop, the Babies and the Miracle Births.
Kenya: An international arrest warrant is due to be signed for the arrest of Archbishop Gilbert Deya on charges of child trafficking. And he is rather upset that the Daily Record exposed the fact that he fled to Scotland. He told a reporter You have become an enemy of god. You talk to my solicitor and you pay the price of what you wrote today.
The Record stands by its story.
Deya Arrest Request Any Time Now—The Nation (via all Africa.com), 15th September 2004; ENEMIES OF GOD. Wanted bishop rants at the Record—The Daily Record, 14th September 2004.
Kenya/England: Today's Independent has a long article about Gilbert Deya, of 'miracle babies' infamy. The article summarises the story so far, and discusses the history of his churches, including what good neighbours they are:
But while Mr Deya may claim thousands of followers, his ministry has found little favour with people who live and work near his church. Many complain of the mayhem caused by the crowds that flock to this part of south-east London on a weekend.
Anne Ward, landlady of the Barnaby pub, said:You want to come round here on a Saturday night. They start at 10 o'clock and there are raves going on until 6 o'clock in the morning.
It is like New York city, music until all hours. They are a nightmare. We have had the police around millions of times but they won't do anything.
The newspaper also spoke to Deya:
He made similar threats in a curious telephone interview with The Independent, which took place during one of his services recently. As what sounded like hundreds of worshippers roared their approval, the preacher threatened hellfire and damnation against this reporter who, he said, would pay the pricein the court of heaven. He also called several of his congregation to testify, including a doctor, Kay Ngagba, and a state registered nurse, Mabel Davies. Both attested to their preacher's claims.
The preacher, the 'miracle' births and the lost children—The Independent, 1st September 2004.
Kenya: The wife of Archbishop Gilbert Deya has been arrested, and he is clearly feeling somewhat stressed. He has written a bizarre letter to Kenya's President Kibaki claiming that Satan has confused Kenya, and that God would now curse the country. The letter includes a potentially serious allegation of attempted rape by police officers but, unfortunately, the tone of the letter makes it too easy to dismiss this as the rantings of a deranged nutter:
The letter full of invective and cant accused the government ofthrowing away the glory that God had plannedfor the country.Your wicked, demonic police, who might have been trained by the devil from hell are attempting to rape the holy Woman of God. Your unfaithful government have taken their evil hand, laid it upon my family and disgraced me and my children, Oh Kenya! You are doomed, you are cursed,warned Deya.
He also claims that the authorities are failing to spoil the children in their care:
My children are in unhealthy childcare. I am suspecting the type of food they are eating now, the type of water they are drinking and whether their lives are the style I have raised them. Be aware that my children are living a life higher than the care they have been taken to. They eat special food. They are used to their driver, Mr Ototo. They are used to their nannies, their toys and all this they are missing which might affect their future growth,he added.
'Miracle babies': Deya's bizarre letter to Kibaki—East African Standard, 24th August 2004; See also 'Miracle babies' not related to mothers—Pagan Prattle, 17th August 2004 and Fast-track pregnancy—Pagan Prattle, 13th August 2004.
Kenya: There has been couple of interesting devolpments in the miracle babies
story. Firstly, in two cases where British women applied for passports for 'their' new babies, DNA tests carried out by the British High Commission failed to match, and documents presented to support the applications turned out to be forgeries. The matter has been handed to Kenyan authorites for investigation.
The multi-millionaire evangelist at the centre of the case faces charges of human trafficking in London. Archbishop Gilbert Deya blames a complex conspiracy for his woes, and also accuses those who expressed concern of doing the Devil's work:
Deya attacked the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, (RCOG) Church of England (CoE) and Children Charities in UK who have called for an investigation into his claims, terming them as evil and tools of satan --These organisations are evil, they are the Pharisees, they claim they know God but they don't. God can't use them to show his work because they are evil,he said
The church of England, The Royal College of obstetrics and Gynaecology are the enemy of God, believe people like Dominic Walker. The Archbishop of Monmouth is a devil worshipper if he can not believe in miracles and think that the power of God can be misusednoted Deya[.] RCOG and CoE and several Children Charities in UK have called for an investigation into the claims, saying Deya's actions are a front for baby-trafficking. Bishop Walker had criticised Deya's practice and had called for urgent police investigation.
Meanwhile, the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) is to launch a new web site to help find adoptive parents for specific children considered 'hard to adopt' by adoption services. New parents for black and ethnic minority children are particularly needed.
DNA test fails to confirm baby miracle claim—East African Standard, 17th August 2004; Adoption charity's new research project to find families on the web—News@www.adoption-net.co.uk, 16th August 2004; Fast-track pregnancy—The Pagan Prattle Online, 13th August 2004.
Kenya: The police have been asked to investigate an evangelical cult which claims to provide miracle babies
for infertile or post-menopausal women. A BBC documentary found that the divine miracle was more likely to be a dodgy human trafficking operation.
The programme investigated Archbishop Gilbert Deya, who heads a rapidly expanding evangelical movement said to number about 36,000 UK members in Britain.
He said he helps women who are unable to conceive naturally by proclaiming them pregnant - after an exorcism.
He then sends them to the backstreet clinics of Nairobi's slums where they apparently give birth.
Although pregnancy tests and ultra sound scans have shown no presence of a baby, women who have used his services claim they have displayed all the visible signs of being pregnant.
These 'pregnancies' last considerably less than the usual nine months, and the babies appear to have none of their mothers' DNA.
Inquiry call on 'miracle babies'—BBC News, 13th August 2004; also a piece on You and Yours, BBC Radio 4, 12th August 2004.