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In the religion children are regularly hooked up to a LIE DETECTOR made from SOUP CANS and ELECTRODES to test their commitment to the church.

Headley, 34, quit the faith after becoming disillusioned with it’s bizarre practises. He says of the 45-year-old Top Gun star, now second-in-command of the church: “Tom is on a mission… to turn EVERYONE into a Scientologist.

I was skimming through High Winds when I came across an article winningly headlined ‘Handling Suppression on the Fourth Dynamic’ (by then I had learnt that the ‘fourth dynamic’ meant the whole of mankind). In a tone of unforgiving militancy, it talked of ‘eradicating SPs’, and crowed about how they had ’shut down’ one particular defector who had criticised the movement. ‘Unemployed and abandoned by his family, this squirrel had schemed to make money by hawking his lies in a book. But the Office of Special Affairs had a court declare his book libellous. He has now been forced into bankruptcy…’

The famous eyes stare and his head lolls about at the wonder of it all while gibberish pours from his lips. Tom Cruise is extolling the glories of Scientology. “It’s rough and tumble. It’s wild and woolly and it’s a blast,” he declares, throwing his carefully dishevelled head back and roaring with laughter. “It’s really […]

The biographer of Princess Diana alleges Cruise is consulted by Scientology leader David Miscavige on “every aspect of planning and policy” and is tailoring his career to fit the aims of Scientology.

Miscavige is said in the book to have gone to extraordinary lengths to charm Cruise, even ordering his staff to plant a field full of wild flowers at a Scientology base in California after Cruise had told him of his fantasy to run through a wildflower meadow with his then newlywed wife Nicole Kidman.

The relationship between the two men is so close that, according to Morton’s book, Miscavige even joined him on honeymoon in the Maldives after his wedding to Katie Holmes in 2006.

A controversial book about Tom Cruise claims the star is second in command of the Church of Scientology.

The unauthorised biography, by Princess Di’s writer Andrew Morton, claims he is consulted by leader David Miscavige on “every aspect of policy”, and that he tailors his career to the cult’s aims.

Morton also suggests Scientologists, fearing Nicole Kidman’s influence, asked Cruise to take a course in 1999 pinpointing “those in his life who create difficulties” - leading to their divorce in 2001.

Scientology teaches its adherents to file reports on members who are acting against the church. Such people are deemed to have brought shame on their families and are sent to ‘ethics’ sessions, where they are questioned for hours about their thoughts and forced to make ‘amends,’ which can include manual labour.

Finally, Astra extricated herself from the movement in 1998, but not before she confessed to a list of petty crimes to avoid being declared a Suppressive Person.

Other Scientologists are ordered not to speak to such outcasts, who are declared enemies, and Astra didn’t want to lose contact with her family.