Celebrity therapist Beechy struck off after seducing clients
Last updated at 09:10 14 September 2006
A celebrity therapist who seduced female clients who went to him seeking help has been struck off from his professional body, it emerged yesterday.
Beechy Colclough's high profile career was thrown into doubt by allegations that he had sex with vulnerable clients who visited him in his Harley Street clinic.
Belfast-born Colcough, who has treated stars including Sir Elton John, Michael Jackson and Kate Moss was taken off the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy list after a "number of complaints".
It is understood the 58-year-old, who is married, failed to contest any of the claims lodged against him with the professional body.
Sex between therapists and clients is strictly forbidden. Born Beauchamp, and with a history of alcoholism, Colclough had a glittering career as therapist to the stars and daytime TV personality.
But his image was shattered when he was accused of seducing a lapdancer who went to him for help with an alcohol problem.
In the course of her six-month "therapy" she claims he sent her lurid text messages and a camera phone picture of himself naked, and conducted a full-blown affair.
She said she felt "humiliated and used" when it became clear earlier this year that he had no intention of leaving fellow therapist wife Josephine, whom he credits with saving him from alcoholism.
Other women then came forward to describe similar experiences.
Last night one victim, Janet Bell, told of her relief at discovering that Colclough had finally been punished.
"I feel completely liberated and no longer feel any shame. What he did is little better than abuse or rape. It's a relief that there can be a good outcome."
Miss Bell, received a letter from the BACP notifying her that Colclough had not contested the claims and that he could no longer practice under its banner.
A full decision is to be published later this month.
Secretary Miss Bell told the Mail earlier this year how she visited the therapist for help with an eating disorder and binge drinking.
She described how he played New Age music and burned incense in his consulting room and began each hour-long session with a hug.
When after six months he offered to massage her shoulders when she complained of a back problem, she agreed.
But within weeks it had become something much more intimate. "When he started touching me more intimately during the massages, I thought 'Oh My God'.
"I was so embarrassed. Afterwards nothing was said and I left quietly. I trusted him so much I never questioned it."
After a year she told how they had sex on the floor. "I should have ended it there and then, but, bizarrely his wanting to have sex with me made me feel special," she said.
Six months later the vulnerable woman took an overdose before finally ending contact in 2002.
"It was totally degrading," she said.
"I wasn't getting well, I was being used. That realisation was like a flash of light."
Miss Bell, 38, said the result had helped her put her feelings of shame to rest. "Hearing that he had done it to someone else gave me the strength to came forward, " she said.
Colclough was one of eight children of a Roman Catholic tailor. He was addicted to drink at the age of 14 and spent the next 20 years in an alcoholic haze.
He married young, but left his first wife, also called Josephine, and two children, saying they were better off without him.
He married again and went to a drying out centre in Plymouth, where he later trained as a therapist. At the time of the allegations Colclough was said to be fighting to save his 17-year marriage.
The BACP decision does not stop Colclough continuing to call himself a therapist and his website is still operating.
The BACP said people looking for a therapist should look for someone who was accredited with them or a similar organisation.
Colclough pursued a career as a drummer in an Irish band until his boozing reduced him to a down and out. His epiphany came one morning when he work up under a lamp-post to find a dog urinating on him.
Miss Bell said that Colclough's usual rate was £120 an hour, but he charged her just £25, and when they started having sex told her she did not need to pay at all, even paying her cab fare.
Speaking to the Mail earlier this year she said: 'We'd have sex most sessions. I'd go in, we'd chat for five or ten minutes then he'd say: "Do you want a massage?" There was never any passionate embrace - we kissed only once - and looking back it was horrible.'
She claimed he would dish out advice as they had sex and usher her out when her hour was up.
He gave her an ill-fitting bra and two garish, lacy G-strings and kept her photograph 'in a drawer with pictures of other girls,' she said.
Despite visiting the therapist for drinking problems she claimed she failed to get sober during the whole period.
Meanwhile lapdancer Angela Harvey said Colcough seduced her on her fourth therapy session, while teaching her how to relax.
She said: 'I remember him touching me softly, making movements on my legs. He had calming music on and incense burning. He massaged my stomach and then my hips. I was under his spell and did what I was told.'
Another former patient Sarah Jones, who did not complain to the BACP, went to Colcough suffering from an eating disorder, but became uncomfortable when he suggested massage and asked her to wear an 'outfit she felt good in'.
'I felt like I was on a psychiatric casting couch,' said the 33-year-old from Brighton.
she stopped visiting the therapist after her third appointment when she changed into a long green halterneck dress and agreed to a massage.
'He said: "I'm wearing a cricket box in case I get aroused," she said.'
'I'm glad he's got his comeuppance now, he couldn't be allowed to get away with it.'
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