Vicar who officiated Jade Goody wedding slams Homes for Ukraine scheme
EXCLUSIVE: Vicar who officiated Jade Goody’s wedding slams Homes for Ukraine scheme and accuses family he housed of being ‘more economic migrants than genuine refugees’
- Jonathan Blake, 65, officiated at Big Brother star Jade Goody’s wedding in 2009
- He took in a family of two parents and three children aged five, 11 and 15
- Churchman discovered the family had a ‘long held ambition’ to leave Ukraine
- Said they rarely showed ‘gratitude’ and then suddenly vanished
A celebrity archbishop has complained that the family of refugees he was housing through the Homes for Ukraine scheme were ‘economic migrants’ instead of ‘genuine refugees’.
Jonathan Blake, 65, who officiated at Big Brother star Jade Goody’s wedding when she was terminally ill, took to social media to suggest some of those fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion were taking advantage of the programme.
Reverend Blake, who is the archbishop of the liberal Open Episcopal Church, said he was contacted by a string of families when he agreed to offer up his home in Welling, Bexley.
Mr Blake, who carried out Britain’s first gay wedding blessing on live TV, said in a Facebook post he eventually took in a family on May 24, consisting of a mother, father and three children aged five, 11 and 15.
He claimed he spent £2,500 decorating his home ahead of their arrival and, once they had arrived, got the family registered with the local GP and the children enrolled in ‘excellent schools’.
But he said he was then ‘surprised to discover that the family had a ‘long held intention’ to leave Ukraine that pre-dated Russia’s invasion.
He claimed they had previously been on holiday in Spain and scoped out possible places to live, adding that they ‘seemed they were more economic migrants than genuine refugees’.
Reverend Blake claimed the parents had told him the war had given them the ‘perfect opportunity to fulfil their ambition to leave Ukraine’.
The archbishop, who in 2017 was found guilty of breaching a restraining order after posting ‘abusive’ messages online, added that the family rarely showed ‘gratitude’ and suddenly vanished when he was helping them look for a property to rent.
A celebrity archbishop has complained that the family of refugees he was housing through the Homes for Ukraine scheme were merely ‘economic migrants’ who had been ‘trying to move to Europe for years.’ Above: Jonathan Clive Blake, 65, officiated at Big Brother star Jade Goody’s wedding when she was terminally ill in 2009
The Homes for Ukraine Scheme, which was launched in March, brought in around 75,000 fleeing refugees into the UK
The Homes for Ukraine Scheme, which was launched in March, brought in around 75,000 fleeing refugees into the UK.
Sponsors had to agree to a minimum of six months when signing up to the scheme, but the cost of living crisis has meant that more than a third of Britons are now ‘struggling financially’ due to the rising costs of bills, fuel and the weekly food shop.
Government figures also showed that 145 placements led to the refugee becoming homeless, due to the relationship with their sponsor breaking down or the accommodation being deemed ‘unsuitable’ before they had even moved in.
Councils have now become concerned about the number of hosts who no longer want to continue housing their refugee
Mr Blake said in his 2,000-word post: ‘When Russia began the war against Ukraine, we were quick to offer help to the fleeing Ukrainians, registering with national refugee agencies and on international web sites our willingness to offer refuge.’
‘We were contacted by many people. Trying to assess their situation and whether we could and should help was complex.’
The archbishop gave four examples of families who contacted him.
Among them was a Ukrainian woman who he claimed wanted him to ‘house her elderly and infirm mother and carer.’
Mr Blake, who carried out Britain’s first gay wedding blessing on live TV, said he eventually took in a family on May 24, consisting of a mother, father and three children aged five, 11 and 15
But he said that on further questioning he discovered she ‘lived in America and could herself have housed her mother, but was looking for someone else to take on the responsibility.’
He said his family were then contacted by two Ukrainian women who asked if they could house them and their four children on a ‘short term basis’.
But added that on ‘on further questioning we discovered they were already safely in England’ via the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Writing of the family that did eventually arrive, on May 24, he said: ‘We spent £2,500 preparing the house for their arrival, decorating, beds and bedding, play equipment and garden equipment.
‘Within four weeks we had the family registered with the local G.P. and dentist, equipped with bank accounts and U.K. mobile phone numbers, enrolled on English language courses, interviewed for Universal Credit, processed with their biometrics, and each of the children accepted into local excellent schools and equipped with uniforms.’
He said his home was turned into a ‘magical environment’ for the family, with the children making use of a swimming pool.
But Mr Blake then claimed: ‘We were surprised though, in the first weeks to discover, that it had been their long held intention to leave Ukraine and seek a better life in Europe.
‘They had already begun to prepare, holidaying in Spain, beginning to learn the language, looking at possible locations and opportunities. It seemed they were more economic migrants than genuine refugees.
Mr Blake is seen shaking hands with the then Prime Minister David Cameron at a reception in the garden of Number 10 Downing Street
‘Their families and friends remained in Ukraine. This was of particular irritation to their older children.
‘Allegedly, they had not been consulted about the decision to leave Ukraine, and had been fed a story about visiting their grandparents, only to find themselves being taken across the border.
‘They were angry at the parents forcing them to leave their lives behind, their schools and their friends.
‘We were told that the war and the chances to gain access to European countries had given the parents the perfect opportunity to fulfil their ambition.
‘They had immediately left for Slovakia and managed to acquire a property, rent free.
‘Then they researched the generous Homes for Ukrainians scheme that the U.K. was offering and realised this offered them a unique way to integrate into the U.K.
‘Another strange feature that emerged over the weeks, was that whatever we provided, whatever we did, however imaginative, caring or thoughtful we were, we rarely, if ever received a “thank you”.
‘Gratitude was not forthcoming. Not that we wanted it for ourselves, but its absence was an unusual indicator.’
The archbishop said he still helped the family to prepare to start looking for rental properties for when their six-month stay came to an end.
The father had got a job in West London and a ‘second income’ that allegedly gave them ‘a pick of rental properties’.
But the churchman claimed that on August 4, he received a call from his council saying they had been told that he had evicted the family and they had been forced to sleep in their car.
Bishop Jonathan Blake arrives at the Essex home of Jade Goody before officiating at her wedding
He wrote: ‘I explained that this was false, we had not evicted them would never evict them and were committed to them staying with us for as long as was necessary, until they found their own accommodation.
‘I then recalled a comment the father had made to me. That they were working on a plan. When I asked what it was, he wouldn’t tell me.
‘One of my sons ran up to their rooms and came down astonished – all their items had been taken and their rooms had been left dirty and their bedding unwashed.
‘While we had been out, they had packed all their things into the car and headed to the council, to present themselves as homeless, expecting that the Council would provide them with a property.
‘We were in shock. They had said nothing to us. They had not said goodbye. They had not said thank you. They had just vacated.’
He claimed that when the family were told they would not be housed by the council because they had made themselves ‘intentionally homeless’, they instead sought somewhere to live in West London.
He said this is the last he has heard of them.
It comes after Britons who hosted families through the Homes for Ukraine Scheme complained about a breakdown in relations with their guests.
British mother Clara Maguire, from Poole, Dorset, who opened her door to two Ukrainians, said she felt ‘totally used and underappreciated’ and has vowed to ‘never again’ take part in the scheme.
Clara Maguire, 54, from Poole, Dorset, is one of a growing number of Britons who have quit the programme following a breakdown in relations with their displaced guests.
Others claimed they have been ‘duped’ by ‘non-vulnerable’ Ukrainians, while many have yet to receive a penny of the monthly £350 payments promised by the government – some six months after Vladimir Putin’s tanks rolled over the border.
However, Ludmila Zosym, 44, a mother from Kiev, has hit out at some of the claims, saying it is the British hosts who cannot understand what her people are going through, as they have never fled from war.
A trauma charity agreed as they called for more mental health training for hosts, and better access to services for refugees to avoid placing further strain on the NHS.
In 2009, Mr Blake was arrested for child neglect after he put his sons on the roof of his home so they could fulfil a task in a school competition to read a book in an unusual place.
Shocked neighbours spotted Nathan, then eight, and then seven-year-old Dominic each calmly reading a book – The Killer Underpants by Michael Lawrence – while perched on the chimney stack.
Their father, instead of calling the fire brigade to rescue them, was happily taking photos in an attempt to win their primary school’s book week competition.
In 2017, Mr Blake was sentenced to 100 hours community service and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs after being found guilty of breaching a restraining order.
He had harassed two complainants for several years by bombarding them with abusive messages.
Police say he ignored repeated requests to stop contacting them and so they reported the harassment to the police on May 1 2015.
Jade Goody and Jack Tweed married at Down Hall country house in Essex. Above. Goody being walked down the aisle. She passed away the following month
Mr Blake was issued with a restraining order from Bromley Magistrates’ Court on December 9, 2015, but he breached it.
He was first arrested for breaching the order on March 4, 2016, and subsequently charged on June 17, 2016.
But Mr Blake, from Welling, Kent, continued to breach the Restraining Order and was arrested again on July 28 2016. He was charged later that day.
Mr Blake was found guilty of four counts of breach of restraining order at Woolwich Crown Court, south east London, on Monday, 13 February.
Mr Blake broke away from the Church of England in 1994 – when he was serving as a vicar in Kent – to set up the Open Episcopal Church.
In 2001 he conducted the first gay marriage on live television on ITV’s This Morning show presented by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan.
As well as being the priest at Jade Goody’s wedding, he also said prayers at her wake after she passed away.
Source: Read Full Article