Church covered up 'abhorrent' abuse, report finds

A British barrister's "horrific" and violent abuse of more than 100 children and young men was covered up within the Church of England for decades, according to the conclusion of a damning report.

John Smyth QC is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England, a long-awaited independent review found. Smyth QC, who died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018, was accused of attacking boys at his Winchester home who he had met at a Christian summer camp in Dorset during the 1970s and 1980s.

On publication of the findings, the Archbishop of Canterbury apologised again to victims, and said Smyth's abuse had "manipulated Christian truth to justify his evil acts".

Smyth had also worked as a barrister representing morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse whilst he ran the camps for young evangelical Christians....

After the report was published on Thursday, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said the pain Smyth's victims endured was "unimaginable". In a statement, Mr Welby said: "I am so sorry that in places where these young men, and boys, should have felt safe and where they should have experienced God’s love for them, they were subjected to physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse." Mr Welby said he had not been aware of Smyth's brutality before 2013, but said: “Nevertheless the review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated".

The abuse could not happen today, he added, because of modern safeguarding practices, before concluding: “John Smyth’s abuse manipulated Christian truth to justify his evil acts, whilst exploiting and abusing the power entrusted to him". On Thursday evening, Mr Welby told Channel 4 News that he considered resigning over the scandal, external, but had decided to remain.

But one of Smyth's victims, Mark Stibbe, told the programme: "I think he should resign… I think there’s so much shame, so much pain, so much agony associated with this".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje0y3gqw1po

Same old story: prayers and apologies, when it is too late but no one resigns.