The Guardian

Father of family found in Dutch farmhouse 'was trying to start cult'

Dutch media report that 67-year-old was former member of movement known as Moonies
Police at the farmhouse in a remote area of Drenthe province in the Netherlands. Photograph: Wilbert Bijzitter/ANP/AFP via Getty Images

The father of a family that spent nearly a decade living in a secret room in a Dutch farmhouse once belonged to the Rev Sun Myung Moon’s controversial Unification church and was trying to found a cult of his own, Dutch media have reported.

The 67-year-old man, who has not been identified by Dutch police but was named by the movement, often known as , as Gerrit-Jan van Dorsten, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of “depriving people of their liberty, harming the health of others and money laundering”, police said in a statement.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Guardian

The Guardian8 min read
PinkPantheress: ‘I Don’t Think I’m Very Brandable. I Dress Weird. I’m Shy’
PinkPantheress no longer cares what people think of her. When she released her lo-fi breakout tracks Break it Off and Pain on TikTok in early 2021, aged just 19, she did so anonymously, partly out of fear of being judged. Now, almost three years late
The Guardian4 min read
‘Soul-shattering’ Prophet Song by Paul Lynch wins 2023 Booker prize
Irish author Paul Lynch has won the 2023 Booker prize for his fifth novel Prophet Song, set in an imagined Ireland that is descending into tyranny. It was described as a “soul-shattering and true” novel that “captures the social and political anxieti
The Guardian7 min read
Gwyneth Paltrow: Is Her Life A Work Of Performance Art?
Ripping to shreds Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop gift list has been a media preoccupation for years now, to the point that the website even titles it, “The ridiculous but awesome gift guide”. Still, even those not driven by well-documented animus towards Pal

Related Books & Audiobooks