A barrister accused of abusing more than 100 children and young men was covered up by the Church of England for years, a report has found.
John Smyth QC is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser associated with the church, accused of abusing as many as 130 boys across five decades in the UK and Africa.
He died in 2018, aged 75, and the report by Hampshire Police found he was ‘never brought to justice for the abuse’.
Despite his ‘appalling’ and ‘abhorrent’ abuse being first identified in the 1980s, Smyth was never fully exposed and was able to keep on abusing children.
While some 30 boys and young men are known to have been directly physically and psychologically abused in the UK, and around 85 boys and young men physically abused in African countries, including Zimbabwe, the total ‘likely runs much higher’.
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 stated: ‘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 Church of England knew ‘at the highest level’ from July 2013 about the abuse Smyth had carried out in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the report said.
It added: ‘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.’
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 inflicted by the late John Smyth and its lifelong effects, already spanning more than 40 years’.
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.’
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has also apologised for his failure to ensure allegations against Smyth were ‘energetically investigated’.
Mr Welby knew Smyth and had ‘no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013’ – but the report concluded that 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 added: ‘Had that been done, on the balance of probabilities, John Smyth could have been brought to justice at a much earlier point than the subsequent Operation Cubic investigation by Hampshire Police in February 2017.
‘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 added: ‘I am 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. The report rightly condemns that behaviour.
‘The review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated.
‘John Smyth’s abuse manipulated Christian truth to justify his evil acts whilst exploiting and abusing the power entrusted to him. In the last 11 years much has been learned.
‘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.
‘This long-delayed report shows another, very important step on the way to a safer church, here and round the world.
‘That does not reverse the terrible abuse suffered but I hope that it can be at least of some comfort to victims.
‘I can only end by thanking them again for their courage and persistence, and again by apologising profoundly, not only for my own failures and omissions but for the wickedness, concealment and abuse by the church more widely, as set out in the report.’
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