The most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England might have been brought to justice had the Archbishop of Canterbury formally reported it to police a decade ago, a review has concluded.
John Smyth QC’s “abhorrent” abuse of more than 100 children and young men was covered up within the Church of England for years, a long-awaited report found.
Across five decades in three different countries and involving as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa, Smyth is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives.
He died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and so was “never bought to justice for the abuse”, the review said.
Despite his “appalling” actions having been identified in the 1980s, the report concluded he was never fully exposed and was therefore able to continue his abuse.
The Church has said it is “deeply sorry for the horrific abuse” and added that “there is never a place for covering up abuse”.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby “could and should” have formally reported the abuse to authorities in 2013, the review said.
Mr Welby said he had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse” before that time but acknowledged the review had found that after its wider exposure that year he had “personally failed to ensure” it was investigated.
Mr Welby knew Smyth because of his attendance at Iwerne Christian camps in the 1970s, but the review said there was no evidence that he had “maintained any significant contact” with the barrister in later years.
It said while he knew him and “did have reason to have some concern about him” this was not the same as suspecting he had committed severe abuses, and concluded it was “not possible to establish” whether Mr Welby knew of the severity of the abuses in the UK before 2013.
But the report said Smyth “could and should have been formally reported to the police in the UK, and to authorities in South Africa (church authorities and potentially the police) by church officers, including a diocesan bishop and Justin Welby in 2013″.
It said “had that been done, on the balance of probabilities” Smyth could have been brought to justice “at a much earlier point” than the Hampshire Police investigation in early 2017.
It added: “Opportunities to establish whether he continued to pose an abusive threat in South Africa were missed because of these inactions by senior church officers.”
Mr Welby said he was “deeply sorry that this abuse happened” and “sorry that concealment by many people who were fully aware of the abuse over many years meant that John Smyth was able to abuse overseas and died before he ever faced justice”.
He added: “I had no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013.
“Nevertheless the review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated.
“Since that time the way in which the Church of England engages with victims and survivors has changed beyond recognition. Checks and balances introduced seek to ensure that the same could not happen today.”
Mr Welby also apologised for failing to meet victims soon enough, and the review noted that “promises by Justin Welby to meet with victims were not followed through in any meaningfully helpful period of time”.
While some 30 boys and young men are known to have been directly physically and psychologically abused in the UK, and about 85 boys and young men physically abused in African countries, including Zimbabwe, the total “likely runs much higher”, the report said.
It said: “John Smyth is, arguably, the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England.”
Keith Makin, who led the independent review, said: “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 cover-up.”
The review, commissioned a year after Smyth’s death by the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, found that an argument had been made that the abuses were “examples of over-enthusiastic corporal punishment”.
But the report said: “The conclusion of the review is that he committed criminal acts of gross abuse.
“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”.
The report described the failure to report Smyth in 2013 as having “represented a further missed opportunity to bring him to justice and may have resulted in an ongoing and avoidable safeguarding threat” in the years before his death in 2018.
In a joint statement, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, Joanne Grenfell, and the national director of safeguarding, Alexander Kubeyinje, said they are “deeply sorry for the horrific abuse” and its “lifelong effects”.
They added: “We know that no words can undo the damage done to people’s lives both by him and by the failure of individuals in the church and other institutions to respond well.”
They welcomed the report’s 27 recommendations and said they would “consider them now in detail, noting work already under way”.
They added: “Every member of the church is responsible for a culture in which victims are heard, responded to well, and put first: there is never a place for covering up abuse.”
Among the review’s recommendations are that the church establishes international safeguarding procedures with other Anglican communion institutions where allegations are made against someone in a position of trust who relocates overseas, and ensuring safeguarding measures at the centre of every church officer’s professional responsibilities.
