Pastor Dieudonné Tukala, 40, was held after a raid on his South London home. Mr Tukala, who is married with two children, heads a Congolese church with a congregation of about 400 in Tottenham, North London. Immigration officials are also investigating Mr Tukala, who arrived in Britain in 1999 with an Angolan passport and was granted exceptional leave to remain.

The allegations against Mr Tukala were uncovered by Angus Stickler, who reported the case on BBC Radio 4’s Today and on the BBC Two programme Newsnight last night, when video clips were shown from services recorded by one of the church elders.

The children of up to ten families are alleged to have been affected at the church, one of more than a hundred Congolese churches in and around the capital. In one example, the BBC reported, a father branded his nine-year-old son with a steam iron. A former church elder told Stickler that he was present when the boy was said to be possessed with evil spirits and alleged that Mr Tukala told the parents to beat him until he confessed to being a witch.

Other parents said that Mr Tukala told them to send their children to Africa, where he could pray for them to die. One woman, Fifi, described how she was pregnant when the family arrived in England in November 2002 as asylum-seekers. She said that within two weeks, Mr Tukala had named her, her son and her unborn child as witches. As a result, she alleged, her husband began to beat her and threw her on to the street.

Fifi told Stickler: “If someone is thought to be kendoki [a witch] in our country, they put car tyres around you and set you on fire.” Another woman, who asked not to be named, said that she went to the pastor because her seven-year-old daughter was having nightmares. He is alleged to have said the child was possessed, and on each visit extracted cash, once up to £80, from the mother. She claims to have been told that in Africa he would pray for the child to be killed.

The church is the latest to face claims that children are being accused of ndoki, or witchcraft, meaning possession by evil spirits. The Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service has been working with churches from the Congolese community in London, and with the police, to advise on child protection. Detective Superintendent Chris Bourlet, head of Project Violet, a police child protection project, said: “Where there are allegations of child abuse, we will act.”

CHURCHES AND 'EVIL SPIRITS'

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Phone tycoon put in charge of Olympics purse
• Mark Speight hanged himself with shoelaces
• Exams board ‘battery farming pupils’