The Bad Guru: 6. The Return

Summary

World of Secrets: Season 6 - The Bad Guru, Episode 6: The Return

Introduction

In Season 6 of BBC's "World of Secrets," titled "The Bad Guru," host Kat McShane delves deep into the dark underbelly of the international yoga movement led by Gregorian Bivolareu. This episode, "The Return," focuses on the aftermath of Bivolareu's arrest in Paris and the harrowing experiences of his followers, particularly Miranda, a former member whose journey from devotion to victimization illuminates the sinister operations of the yoga sect.

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I. The Arrest of Gregorian Bivolareu

The episode opens with a vivid recounting of a dramatic police operation in Villiers Samane, a suburb east of Paris. On November 28, 2023, armed police stormed a house associated with the International Federation of Yoga and Meditation, arresting at least 26 individuals linked to the movement. Among those arrested was the 71-year-old spiritual leader, Gregorian Bivolareu, charged with human trafficking, organized kidnapping, rape, and the French offense of organized abuse by a sect.

Notable Quote:

Miranda [01:50]: "Out of the house."

Timestamp: [01:50]

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II. Miranda's Entrapment and Deeper Involvement

Miranda, a university tutor from London, joined the yoga charity in 2017, drawn by the sense of community and personal transformation it offered. Her initial experiences were positive, leading her deeper into the organization. However, her mother, Penny, grew concerned as Miranda became more reclusive and secretive.

Notable Quote:

Miranda [03:23]: "It was empowering to feel some sense of something positive and constructive happening."

Timestamp: [03:23]

As Miranda's involvement intensified, she was lured into a series of manipulative and abusive rituals orchestrated by Bivolareu. Her participation included blindfolded journeys through Paris and coerced involvement in sex work in Prague, all under the guise of spiritual enlightenment.

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III. Investigating Atman Federation and Tara Yoga Centre

Kat McShane explores the broader network supporting Bivolareu, focusing on the Atman Federation and its UK affiliate, Tara Yoga Centre. Despite Bivolareu's fugitive status, these organizations continued to promote him, even facilitating secretive initiation rituals for new recruits.

Notable Quote:

Miranda [07:06]: "We were told that we should put on one of these pairs of dark glasses which had masking tape on the inside, and put on a hat and pull it down over our eyes so that we couldn't see where we were going."

Timestamp: [07:06]

Further investigation reveals that senior figures within Tara Yoga Centre actively arranged clandestine meetings with the now-arrested guru, contradicting their official stance of non-involvement. The agent uncovers a secret recording from 2022, where leaders discuss Miranda's allegations and their efforts to manage the fallout.

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IV. Miranda's Testimony and Legal Proceedings

Following Bivolareu's arrest, Miranda was summoned to Paris to provide her testimony. The tribunal, as described by Miranda, was less about cross-examination and more focused on understanding the long-term impact of the sect's activities on her and identifying other key players involved.

Notable Quote:

Miranda [10:03]: "It's a relief to know that won't be happening. I feel annoyed that I have to go."

Timestamp: [11:35]

During her testimony, Miranda expressed a mix of relief and apprehension. She detailed the traumatic experiences, including being blindfolded and coerced into unauthorized activities, highlighting the manipulative tactics used to control and exploit members.

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V. Seeking Closure: Visiting the Holding House

In an emotional quest for closure, Kat and Miranda visit the very house in Villiers Samane where Miranda was held before her initiation with Bivolareu. Contrary to expectations of an abandoned crime scene, they encounter someone inside, heightening Miranda's anxiety and fears that remnants of the sect's influence still linger.

Notable Quote:

Miranda [17:19]: "I feel really nervous. Just can't believe that there's people still living there."

Timestamp: [17:19]

This encounter underscores the ongoing threat posed by the sect's remaining members and the challenges survivors face in overcoming their traumatic pasts.

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VI. The Importance of Community and Personal Reclamation

Miranda emphasizes the critical role that community played in her initial attraction to the yoga movement. The sense of belonging and shared spiritual goals were pivotal, making it easier for her to become entangled in the sect’s manipulative practices. Former members like Elise, a hairstylist from Oxford, share similar struggles in redefining their identities and coping with lingering trauma.

Notable Quote:

Miranda [23:11]: "That was the most important thing for me. It mattered so much for me to feel connection with people outside of what I immediately knew as my family."

Timestamp: [23:11]

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VII. Organizational Responses and Regulatory Actions

The BBC investigation presses Tara Yoga Centre and the Atman Federation for comments on their involvement with Bivolareu. Both organizations maintain a stance of non-involvement and condemn any form of abuse. However, their responses appear defensive and dismissive of the allegations, with Tara Yoga Centre stating:

Notable Quote:

Tara Yoga Centre: "Gregorian Bivolaro does not have direct contact with Tara Yoga centre, nor does he hold any decision-making authority or influence over our operations or finances."

Timestamp: [15:23]

Additionally, the Charity Commission reveals that Tara Yoga faced regulatory concerns in 2020 regarding governance and safeguarding procedures, prompting formal advice to address identified issues.

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VIII. Reflections and Moving Forward

The episode concludes with poignant reflections on the delicate balance between the pursuit of spiritual wellness and the vulnerability it can create to exploitation. Miranda, supported by her mother Penny, demonstrates resilience as she endeavors to rebuild her life and find peace after her traumatic experiences.

Notable Quote:

Penny [26:36]: "I don't think they ever quite caught all of you. Do you think that's right?"

Timestamp: [26:36]

Miranda [26:54]: "Are you disappointed in me?"

Timestamp: [26:54]

Penny [27:46]: "Words can't really express how proud I am."

Timestamp: [27:46]

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Conclusion

"The Return" offers a gripping exploration of how charismatic leadership within spiritual movements can devolve into abuse and exploitation. Through Miranda's harrowing journey, the episode underscores the importance of vigilance, support systems, and accountability within communities that promise personal transformation and spiritual enlightenment.

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Production Credits

• Presenter: Kat McShane
• Producer: Emma Wetherill
• Executive Producer: Ines Bowen
• Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister
• French Language Production: Adele Humbert
• Sound Designer: Melvin Rickaby
• Development Producer: Emma Shaw
• Legal Advisor: David Atfield

Note: This summary omits advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections to focus solely on the substantive elements of the episode.

Transcript

[Kat McShane]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk. Odoo is business management made so simple a kid could explain it. Sometimes business software can't talk to other programs, but Odoo, funny word, has every program from CRM to HR to accounting in one platform. It should cost a lot, but it doesn't. So you should use Odoo because they save you money. Odoo makes a lot of sense, but doesn't cost a lot of sense. Sign up [e-mail] that's o d o o dot com. Good job. Thanks. Hi, it's Emma Wetherill here. I'm one of the producers of season six of World of Secrets. I just wanted to let you know that more seasons are coming out in 2025. I can't reveal the details about these investigations yet. It's called World of Secrets for a reason, but but do follow or subscribe so you get every episode automatically. This episode contains sexual content, allegations of sexual exploitation and some strong language. A man we're going to call Jacques normally spends his weekdays out at work. But unusually on Tuesday 28 November 2023, he has a day off. At around 10 in the morning, he takes a stroll around his neighborhood. He lives in a suburb to the east of Paris called Villiers Samane. I woke back at 11am and a minibus was parked just in front of my house.

[Miranda]

I was curious.

[Kat McShane]

Obviously. People are congregating around one of the houses further up the street. He watches in disbelief as armed police leave their vehicle and storm into the house. A few minutes later, they come back out the front door, bringing with them women, one by one, the girls coming.

[Miranda]

Out of the house.

[Kat McShane]

I wasn't able to count, but at least 12, maybe 15, maybe 20. I was wondering, these girls, were they arrested? Later that day, Jacques checks the news. He learns there was actually 26 women that came out of that house and they weren't being arrested. According to the police, they were being rescued. From the news reports, Jacques reads that their removal was part of a huge operation involving 175 police officers carrying out raids across Paris. And the strangest part is that the people being arrested are all part of an international yoga movement or organizations affiliated to atman, the International Federation of Yoga and Meditation. In total that day, over 40 people associated with the yoga movement arrested in France, including the 71 year old spiritual guide, Gregorian Bivalaru. A few days later, the spiritual guide is charged with human trafficking, organized kidnapping, rape and the French criminal offence of organized abuse and of weakness by a sect an anti cult law which doesn't exist in England. He is reminded in custody. How on earth is a yoga movement at the centre of a mass police operation? This is World of Secrets Season 6 the Bad Guru BBC Radio 4 Investigation. I'm Cat McShane. Episode 6 the Return.

[Miranda]

It was empowering to feel some sense of something positive and constructive happening.

[Kat McShane]

Miranda is one of the former members of this yoga movement who spent time in that holding house in Paris waiting for her initiation with Gregorian Bivalaru. She used to revere him as a guru. Then she became one of the several women who complained about him to the French police. She's pleased he's now been arrested.

[Miranda]

I felt safer in a physical sense. I felt a sense of relief. But it was also accompanied by a concern. Knowing that many hundreds of, if not more of kind of pretty hardcore devotees would know that I personally had something to do with this. And understanding from having been in the organization, knowing the rhetoric, knowing the groupthink, the way in which they will be blaming and demonizing me. So just because he's behind bars, you know, he's still their spiritual leader, he's still their guru, they still try to be like him. Unless something changes within the way that that organization operates, it's going to continue, it's going to keep damaging.

[Kat McShane]

After I hear about the arrests, my mind immediately turns to what impact it's going to have here in the uk. Gregorian Bi Villari's umbrella organisation of tantric yoga schools, the Atman Federation, is based in the UK and its English affiliate, a registered charity called Tara Yoga Centre, has studios in London, Oxford and Plymouth and over the years has run classes in Cambridge, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Bertineau and Trent Woking and Dublin. Gregorian Bivallaru has spent most of the past decade on the run from sex offence and human trafficking charges. But that hasn't stopped the Atman Federation and the Tara Yoga Centre from promoting him as a spiritual guide. Four women I've spoken to even say they were approached by teachers at the Thara Yoga Centre to visit Bivolaro for an initiation ritual during his periods in hiding as a fugitive. I have met Professor Vivolaro on multiple occasions over many years and he always manifested with me a wonderful state of humbleness, an immense willingness to help me with everything that I needed. I've also heard this secret recording of senior figures at Tara Yoga center talking about their own contact with Gregorian Bivalaru, who they call Grieg. This recording was made in 2022. It's from a meeting called to denounce a former student, Miranda, who had made allegations about trafficking and abuse among Bivallari's followers. Miranda had also visited the spiritual guide when he was in hiding in Paris. Her trip wasn't one organised by the Tara Yoga Centre, but one of the prominent women there, someone called Catherine, says she had been in touch with the guru on Miranda's behalf to arrange a second visit to him. Catherine says this was at Miranda's request. And Maria Pausewelt, the most important figure in Tara at the time, says she sees nothing wrong with arranging a follow up visit to the fugitive guru. Miranda wanted to get in touch with Greenwash Catherine not help. But that's my personal opinion about that. With Bivolari still in hiding, no doubt it would, like the first visit, have been another clandestine trip through Paris.

[Miranda]

We were told that we should put on one of these pairs of dark glasses which had masking tape on the inside, and put on a hat and pull it down over our eyes so that we couldn't see where we were going.

[Kat McShane]

And then time spent in a holding house.

[Miranda]

We had to hand over our passports, mobile phones, credit cards, any other IDs.

[Kat McShane]

It's true Miranda did at one point want to return, even though the first time her meeting with the guru was a traumatizing sexual initiation. Now she wants nothing more to do with him. She believes this is a cult. On the secret recording of the meeting, a male teacher also talks about visiting Grigori and Bivalaru. I had a chance to meet Krieg about 10 years ago. The man who is speaking is Bogdan Radasanu, a teacher at Tara Yoga Centre. He's also a director of the Atman Federation umbrella organization. The way he describes his visit to Grigori and Bivallaru suggests it was when the guru was a wanted man. His security in private life is more, let's say, for concern. In some ways, it's surprising to hear the teachers at Thara Yoga Centre talk so openly about their contact with Grigori and Bivallaru. As I said earlier, Tara Yoga center is a registered charity. According to the regulator, the Charity Commission, the trustees of Tara assured them in 2020 that they had no involvement with Grigori and Bivallaru. I wonder what the reaction to Bivalaru's recent arrest will be at the Atman Federation and its affiliate, the Tara Yoga Center. I type in Tara Yoga's web address to see if there's any announcement to reassure students. I see they've put out a press release about Gregorian Vivolari's arrest. It says they don't know anything more than what is being reported in the media and that they're following the situation closely. The reaction on the website of the Atman Federation, to which Tara Yoga is affiliated, is more bullish. Reproducing a statement from Atman's remaining affiliate, they reply robustly to the accusations. None of the 26 alleged victims gave any statement against Gregorian Bivolaru or any other person. None consider themselves exploited, abused, trafficked or the victim of any rape. It appears that even though Grigorian Bivolari was arrested, both Atman and Tara are continuing with business as usual. Neither seems to be reflecting on their own connection with Bivalaru. Can you hear me crying? Yeah.

[Miranda]

Yeah, I can hear you. Well.

[Kat McShane]

A few months after Gregorian Bivlara was arrested, the French authorities have been in touch with Miranda. She's being called to give her testimony in France. I phoned Miranda just before she boards her flight to Paris.

[Miranda]

At Ameca Insurance we know it's more than just a house. It's your home. The place that's filled with memories. The early days of figuring it out to the later years of still figuring it out. For the place you've put down roots. Trust Amica Home Insurance Amica empathy is our best policy. I'm just having a sit down at pret.

[Kat McShane]

Absolute, Absolute classic airport Vital pre plane airport trip to Pretty. I'll be joining her there in a couple of days time. So look what's happening in Paris this week.

[Miranda]

So first up is the tribunal tomorrow morning we're going to see the judge at 10 and they told me that it will be just us and the judge and her clerk. So that's a relief. There's no legal representation from the defense. I'm not going to be cross examined. They said, you know, the purpose of this is not to question your testimony. It's to see what the long lasting impact is on you and also to identify the roles of the other kind of co conspirators, the other key players in the whole operation. Because apparently, apparently they are claiming that they are also victims, as are their lawyers.

[Kat McShane]

How do you feel about that?

[Miranda]

You know, I was just assuming that it would be like the things I'd seen on TV with kind of cross examination and things. So it's a relief to know that won't be happening. I feel annoyed that I have to go. I wish that I wasn't having to spend all that time and money going to the place where I was traumatized, you know, the last time I was there, I was brought to a, you know, petrol station, service station somewhere in the outskirts of Paris. And. And then I was blindfolded everywhere else I went that wasn't inside. So, you know, I don't have fond memories of it and I don't, I don't have, you know, good memories of kind of what happened to my life from there on.

[Kat McShane]

Maybe we can try and create, have some kind of better memory for you while we're, while we're there. Maybe we can have like a glass of wine by the Eiffel Tower or something. Something nice, isn't it?

[Miranda]

That sounds nice.

[Kat McShane]

Okay, well, listen, safe flight, Miranda. Yeah, I'll be in touch soon.

[Miranda]

Thanks, guys.

[Kat McShane]

Bye. As Miranda heads off to Paris, I think about the bits of the testimony she might be giving in France. She'll be talking about her initiation with the guru, of course, but will the French authorities be interested in how she learned to revere Bivolaro at the Tara Yoga Centre in London? Or what she says about succumbing to pressure to take part part in sexualized rituals?

[Miranda]

We were told it was optional, but if you didn't want to participate, you had to leave and you had to stay out for the whole day.

[Kat McShane]

And what she's told me happened after she was taken to a house near Prague.

[Miranda]

She said, look, we do cam girl work and you don't have to do it, but you need to pay for being here and you need to pay for your passage here.

[Kat McShane]

Two days later, I traveled to Paris to meet up with Miranda in a park. She tells me about meeting up with the judge.

[Miranda]

We went to a room adjacent to the judge's office. The judge was wearing a kind of a pink sweater with daisies on and jeans. I really liked the judge. I felt that it's in good hands. So that felt like a huge relief and gratitude that the French authorities cared enough to do this and that they listened to us and that they looked at the facts and that they cared enough about us and about other women. She said, kind of almost from the beginning, I'm not going to, you know, make you go through any specific questions around gb. And it was a relief because that's one of the most difficult parts to retell. She was assessing my, you know, the, the long lasting impact on my life. I also saw some photos of people that I knew who were involved, who were, who were present at the arrest, and that was, that was very upsetting.

[Kat McShane]

So were they asking you to identify people?

[Miranda]

Yes. Even though I know the process is really long. And it's far from over. To know that we've taken a really important step in that. And hopefully I won't have to come back. It's a relief. And I feel like I can finally close one door, or at least start to close it, and open a new door in my life.

[Kat McShane]

As a way to help close that door. Miranda and I discuss going to visit the holding house that she was kept in before her initiation with Bivalaru. We both think it might give us some closure. So we drive east to the street she stayed at in a Paris suburb. You're remembering God's journey.

[Miranda]

No, because I was blindfolded.

[Kat McShane]

We're going to a house that holds a lot of painful experiences. Do you think that seeing it and knowing the house is no longer operational, it's an empty crime scene, might in any way help let go of those associations and that pain?

[Miranda]

I suppose there'll be a sense of relief in knowing that it's no longer the site of that same abuse and that no one else will go through what me or some of the other women that I know went through there. I was nervous this morning that the organization might still have some kind of surveillance of that property. I think that's entirely possible.

[Kat McShane]

Okay, this is the street. You can drop us here. We walk along the street towards the holding house. Miranda's concerns that she will somehow be watched seems to me to be paranoia. Vivolaro and his associates have been arrested. We approach the house expecting to see an abandoned building, perhaps with some police tape around it. But instead, there's someone in that house.

[Miranda]

That's the house, and there's someone in that house. I can't.

[Kat McShane]

Okay, let's move.

[Miranda]

That's definitely the house. And someone definitely opened a window.

[Kat McShane]

Yeah, I saw that as well. Someone at the window who just opened and then closed the window when they saw us.

[Miranda]

I just want to get away from here as quickly as possible.

[Kat McShane]

Can you explain how you're feeling?

[Miranda]

I feel really nervous. Just can't believe that there's people still living there.

[Kat McShane]

We don't know who is living there, but Miranda suspects it's still Gregorian. Vivolari's followers. What would you be worried that they might do if they recognized you?

[Miranda]

I just don't want to see them. And it looked like a face that I kind of semi recognized. I'm kind of shaking a bit.

[Kat McShane]

Yeah, yeah. Your bottom lip is trembling. It could be then that people have been arrested but then released. I'm coming straight back. Miranda's put up her hood and we're quickly walking away. After walking away from the house, Miranda starts to regain her composure. She tells me why she was so upset to see someone in the window in a place she suspects is still inhabited by Gregorian Bivolari's followers.

[Miranda]

To know that there's still people sitting in that house, carrying on about their daily life and cult activities, makes me really angry.

[Kat McShane]

It's so beautiful here. We're walking down the side of the Seine. We've got the Eiffel Tower in front of us. While I'm in Paris, Miranda asked me to meet her on the banks of the Seine, the main river running through the city. When I arrive, I see she's brought a couple of objects with her.

[Miranda]

So I've got two necklaces here that I want to symbolically release, let go of into the river. One necklace, which is from their short tantra course that prompted me to search for tantra when I came back to London. And the second one is a mulla, which is a prayer bead. I did quite a lot of meditation. So, yeah, I'm just gonna say a few words to myself and let them go.

[Kat McShane]

I watch Miranda. She's in silent contemplation. She then opens her clenched fist and lets the two necklaces drop down into the river. She turns to me and her face is beaming. Her joy is infectious. Other former members of Tara Yoga Centre tell me that they struggle with moving on with their lives. Elise is a hairstylist from Oxford who went to the Polarity Retreat in Somerset. Now that she's no longer part of Tara Yoga, she's having to work out a new identity for herself. I modulated my behaviour so much to fit in with them that I lost parts of myself that I'm now trying to reclaim, and that's been a bit weird. I have really angry dreams about the school or about Grieg or. I feel quite angry with the teachers, specifically because I feel like they know what goes on and they just, like some of them, want to bury their head in the sand. We wrote to Gregorian Bivolaro via his lawyer to give him an opportunity to respond to the allegations made against him. We did not receive a reply. MISA, a yoga organization associated with Mr. Bivolaro, strongly defended him, stating that he has been the victim of political persecution and false allegations and that his teachings are followed by more than 40,000 people around the world. Tara Yoga center declined to be interviewed for this series. We wrote to both Tara and atman, the International Federation of Yoga and Meditation. We put it to both organizations that through their encouragement of pushing against sexual boundaries and a cult like veneration of Gregorian Bivalaru, they have left some women vulnerable to exploitation. We also put to Tara Yoga center our evidence that senior figures at Tara had acted as a conduit for Grigori and Bivolaro and had encouraged women to travel to Paris to meet him for a sexual initiation during his years as a fugitive. Tara Yoga center told us we unequivocally condemn all forms of abuse. And they told us that Gregorian Bivolaro does not have direct contact with Tara Yoga center, nor does he hold any decision making authority or influence over his operations or finances. They said that they had been advised that due to legal proceedings, which they will vigorously defend, it would be inappropriate to comment further. The Atman Federation told us that it operates entirely autonomously of its member schools and that it categorically condemns any kind of abuse. They also said that as some of the matters we raised may be subject to legal proceedings, they had been advised that it would be inappropriate for them to comment further. The charities regulator, the Charity Commission told us that a compliance case regarding Tara Yoga in 2020 gave rise to regulatory concerns, notably around the trustees governance of safeguarding procedures. They told us they therefore provided formal regulatory advice and guidance to ensure they addressed the issues we identified. They told us we are assessing new information to determine any next steps we might take as regulator. Hearing Miranda's story has made me realise that the search for wellness, for something spiritual, can leave people open to abuse. But it's also made me realise that even with an organisation as flawed as Tara Yoga Centre, the ordinary seekers got something good out of it each other. How important to you is the community that the school offers you?

[Miranda]

That was the most important thing for me. It mattered so much for me to feel connection with people outside of what I immediately knew as my family, what I knew to be spiritual. When you practice spirituality, you immediately open up a field to connect with people and commune. That was what I was looking for and it's what I valued. And the shared values and building friendships on that. Yeah, that really mattered. It's really powerful. Really, really powerful.

[Kat McShane]

You're doing the meditations, you're doing the.

[Miranda]

Yoga, you're part of the community.

[Kat McShane]

It's funny, like one of my friends.

[Miranda]

From Tara, he and I, last year, I think both of us were really missing it and so we were like, well, why don't we just try and gather our friends and why don't we practice yoga together? Why don't we do some Meditation together.

[Kat McShane]

It.

[Miranda]

It really felt like a family.

[Kat McShane]

Yeah.

[Miranda]

It would be great if they one day saw the light.

[Kat McShane]

And for Miranda, that chance to belong, to be part of something more than just herself. Turns out it was always there, waiting, without judgment from Miranda, to come home.

[Penny]

I've done a certain amount of Googling as you do, so I've got an educated guess as to the stuff that went on. And my heart goes out to you.

[Kat McShane]

Penny, Miranda's mother, never tried to interfere. Miranda's now back living in the same county as her family in Oxfordshire. There's still a lot about her experiences she wants to explain to Penny.

[Miranda]

One of the reasons why it worked so well and has worked for so long on so many people is that it was pretty subtle. It wasn't like cult side heard about where, you know, they tell you to stop seeing your family or, you know, to stop spending time with your friends. They didn't tell that to anyone, especially not in the beginning. But there was talk kind of throughout, really, about spiritual family and birth family, and that your spiritual family were the people who were on the same path as you. They understood. So there was this idea that your spiritual family was possibly more important than your birth family. And they often said that there was this. This phrase that supposedly was from gb, that no mother has ever become enlightened. And they used that as a way of, obviously, it's putting women and mothers down, but they also used it as a way of discouraging people from having their own families and discouraging women from having children. And, you know, family is not a spiritual priority.

[Penny]

No. Well, I think it speaks volumes for your skill as a communicator and also your wonderful commitment to family that you kept that going. I'm going to hazard a guess.

[Kat McShane]

Which.

[Penny]

Is I don't think they ever quite caught all of you. Do you think that's right?

[Miranda]

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's right. Are you disappointed in me?

[Penny]

No, never the reverse. I'm full of admiration for someone who can go through the experiences you've been through, and then I know that some of them are unspeakably difficult to talk about. I have nothing but admiration for you to then do what you're doing now to bring it into the light and almost alchemize some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. I think you're meant to do that. And again, I am just so proud of you for doing that. Words can't really express how proud I am.

[Miranda]

Thank you so much for your support.

[Penny]

Well, you have it always. You know you do.

[Kat McShane]

World of Secrets, the Bad Guru is a BBC Studios audio production. It's presented by me, Kat McClure, Shane, and produced by myself and Emma Wetherill. Executive producer is Ines Bowen. Unit manager is Lucy Bannister. French language production, Adele Humbert. Sound designer is Melvin Rickaby. Development producer is Emma Shaw. Development executive is Anya Saunders. Storytelling consultant is Jamie Bartlett. Legal advisor is David Atfield. Editorial policy advisor is Matthew Eltringham. Commissioning executive is Tracy Williams. Commissioning editor is Dan Clark. World of Secrets the Bad Guru is a BBC Studios audio production. For years, a witness's evidence has been locked away.

[Miranda]

I've seen the dark side. He warned a chemical is coming, it's a silent killer and that he was a target forced into a witness protection program.

[Kat McShane]

We're Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor, two investigative journalists joined by the Hollywood star Michael Sheen.

[Miranda]

Do you think someone's going to try and kill us? From BBC Radio 4, an unsettling investigation into a chemical secret unravels.

[Kat McShane]

They don't have any record of him.

[Miranda]

What? Listen now to Bury the Last Witness on BBC Sounds.