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CofE covered up 'abhorrent and brutal' abuse by predator John Smyth, report finds

by Donna Birrell
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The Church of England has been found to have covered up decades of abuse by the John Smyth, now described as the denomination's "most prolific serial abuser".

A long-awaited report into the QC found he was "hiding in plain sight", while subjecting as many as 130 boys and young men at Christian summer camps in the UK and Africa to traumatic sexual, physical, psychological and spiritual abuse across more than 40 years starting in the 1970s. 

Some members of Smyth’s own family were also said to be victims of his abuse.

Despite senior clergy including former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and several bishops hearing disclosures of his abuse, Smyth was able to move to Zimbabwe and South Africa, while "church officers knew of the abuse and failed to take the steps necessary to prevent further abuse occurring".

The independent lessons learned review found that the church had "covered up" the abuse and despite knowing "at the highest level" from 2013, Smyth’s abuse was never properly investigated or reported.

The report is particularly damning in the assumption that if the church had acted upon the disclosures, further abuse of young boys and men in South Africa between 2013 and 2017 could have been prevented.

It says that Smyth’s "prolific, brutal and horrific" abuse was identified in the 1980s, but despite considerable efforts by individuals to disclose it to the relevant authorities, "the steps taken by the Church of England and other organisations and individuals were ineffective and neither fully exposed nor prevented further abuse". 

In a statement, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Rev Justin Welby, who had known Smyth briefly while working at one of the camps in the 1980s, said he had no idea or suspicion of abuse before 2013, but “nevertheless, the review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated”.

The report stated that: "John Smyth should have been properly and effectively reported to the police in the UK and to relevant authorities in South Africa.

"This represented a further missed opportunity to bring him to justice and may have resulted in an ongoing and avoidable safeguarding threat in the period between 2012 and his death in 2018."

Archbishop Justin has also apologised for failing to meet with victims despite giving assurances that he would: “I repeat my apology contained in the review, that I did not meet quickly with victims after the full horror of the abuse was revealed. As the report says, no Archbishop can meet with everyone but I promised to see them and failed until 2020. This was wrong.”

Keith Makin who led the independent review said: “The abuse at the hands of John Smyth was prolific and abhorrent. Words cannot adequately describe the horror of what transpired. Despite the efforts of some individuals to bring the abuse to the attention of authorities, the responses by the Church of England and others were wholly ineffective and amounted to a coverup.

“Further abuse could and should have been prevented. John Smyth's victims were not sufficiently supported by the Church and their views on escalating his abuse to the police and other authorities were not sought."

Smyth was able to move to Zimbabwe and South Africa, while "church officers knew of the abuse and failed to take the steps necessary to prevent further abuse occurring".

"This represented a further missed opportunity to bring him to justice and may have resulted in an ongoing and avoidable safeguarding threat in the period between 2012 and his death in 2018."

The Church of England’s lead Bishop for Safeguarding Rt Rev Joanne Grenfell told Premier : “I agree that it's utterly appalling that they did nothing and that they chose to cover that up under some misguided sense that they were somehow protecting the work of the church. That is not right. The Gospel is about good news for the broken hearted, and building up those who are distressed. It's not about covering up abuse ever. And so clearly there is a reckoning to come in terms of working out what went wrong and those who need to be held to account.

“In terms of the Archbishop, he's really expressed his sorrow for not having responded faster in 2013 to 2019 in terms of meeting victims and survivors. I would just echo his apology.”

Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police and so was “never bought to justice for the abuse”.

 

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