Hoaxed · Tortoise Media

Infiltration | Ep 4

October 13, 2022·27 min·1 clip

Wilfred Wong — a Westminster parliamentary lobbyist who promoted the Hampstead hoax — kidnapped a child at knifepoint in Anglesey in 2020 and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

1. Episode four of 'Hoaxed' (Tortoise, 2022) examines how the Hampstead conspiracy theory gained political legitimacy through what journalist Alexi Mostrous calls 'proximity to respectability.' 2. Mostrous and producer Gemma Newby are the core reporters; former MP John Hemming, OSINT specialist Daniel Mackey, colleague Xavier Greenwood, and conspiracy theorist Wilfred Wong's background are all drawn on in this episode. 3. The episode's thesis is that a conspiracy theory spreads not just on the strength of its story but on the credibility of the people who vouch for it — and that the Hampstead hoax reached Westminster and Brussels as a result. 4. Activist Sabine McNeil and her organisation the Association of McKenzie Friends had MP John Hemming listed as patron on their website and business cards; Hemming agreed to the role after McNeil approached him about family court reform. 5. McNeil used Hemming's endorsement to address the European Parliament's Petitions Committee at least twice — in 2014 and 2016 — in sessions where she quickly shifted from family court grievances to satanic ritual abuse claims. 6. A video of McNeil addressing the Parliament shows her stating that the UK takes '1,000 children a month' and that 'satanic abuse is a phenomenon that cannot be denied.' 7. While giving these talks, McNeil was simultaneously committing the stalking and harassment offences for which she would later be sentenced to nine years in prison, including hacking into a mother's computer and labelling a nine-year-old girl 'the star of a sex show.' 8. John Hemming told Mostrous his involvement was limited to hosting meetings in Parliament, and that 'when you're a patron of an organisation, you're not reviewing everything in detail'; he departed the association in January 2015 after warning McNeil that the Hampstead allegations were fabricated. 9. Wilfred Wong is introduced as a human rights barrister from North London who had spent 22 years promoting satanic ritual abuse theories, including the Hampstead hoax. 10. Simultaneously, Wong worked as a Westminster parliamentary lobbyist for a lobbying group promoting Christian values, holding a security pass, an office in Parliament, and a direct line to MPs for nearly two decades. 11. Wong was publicly praised in the Houses of Commons, and Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh repeatedly cited his work on persecuted Christians on Parliamentary TV. 12. In November 2020, Wong and a woman called Dr. Anka Hill kidnapped a child in Anglesey, Wales, believing he was being abused by a satanic cult; they held a knife to the foster carer's throat, snatched the child, slashed the foster carer's tyre, and were arrested by armed police four hours later. 13. At trial, the court established that no satanic cult existed; Wong was sentenced to 17 years, Hill to 14 years, with the judge describing 'unspeakable misery and harm' caused to the child. 14. Sir Edward Leigh gave Wong a character reference at his kidnapping trial. 15. Mostrous reflects that the Hampstead parents had feared for years that a conspiracy theorist would come to take their children, and that Wilfred Wong's case showed how close that nightmare came to happening to them. 16. In parallel, Mostrous and Xavier Greenwood conduct OSINT on Abraham Christie, narrowing his location to three points in Morocco: Chefchaouen, a cannabis-growing region near Katama, and Marrakech. 17. Xavier locates Abraham's riad in Marrakech via Instagram photographs cross-referenced with a property website for expats; the riad is co-owned by Abraham and his ex-wife and is listed for sale. 18. Just before departure to Morocco, Abraham posts a public Instagram attack on his ex-wife, accusing her of Satanism; her children respond with twenty years of abuse allegations, described as 'stunningly similar to Hampstead.' 19. The episode ends on a teaser for episode five, with the Morocco trip about to begin. 20. Listeners interested in how fringe conspiracy theories gain political access and what happens when they cross into real-world violence will find the most to engage with.

As heard by us

A patient look at how conspiracy, credibility, and power can occupy the same room.

Hoaxed lands on the awkward overlap between conspiracy culture and institutional access: child-abuse cover-up claims, satanic ritual abuse, and Wilfred Wong moving between fringe certainty and Westminster.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a careful, unsettling look at the Hampstead hoax and Wilfred Wong, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Hoaxed