• Warning: this post contains distressing details

John Smyth was a British barrister who abused boys he met at Christian summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s.

He was a senior member of Christian charity the Iwerne Trust and is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church of England, according to an independent review commissioned a year after his death in 2018.

The long-awaited report - led by Keith Makin and published on Thursday - detailed how Smyth's abuse of more than 100 children and young men was covered up within the Church of England for decades.

He is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks.

The Iwerne Trust conducted its own investigation in 1982 that found Smyth would take pupils to his home near Winchester and carry out lashings with a garden cane in his shed.

It said eight of the boys received a total of 14,000 lashes, while two more received 8,000 between them over three years.

The charity called the practice "horrific" but the claims were not reported to police until 2013 - more than 30 years later.

Smyth then moved to Zimbabwe and later South Africa, where he abused up to 100 boys aged 13 to 17.

It was not until 2017, after a Channel 4 documentary revealed details about Smyth's abuse to the public, that police launched a full investigation.

Smyth is believed to have continued his abuse in South Africa until his death in 2018.

Harry Farley
News correspondent

Justin Welby said yesterday he was “stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England”.

But survivors of John Smyth – described as the most prolific abuser associated with the national Church – are saying this was never just about the archbishop.

Many others knew of Smyth’s abuse. Those particularly culpable are clergy in the 1980s who “participated in an active cover-up”, last week’s report into Smyth’s abuse found. But there are also currently serving bishops who knew.

This morning Julie Conalty, Bishop of Birkenhead and deputy lead bishop for safeguarding told the Today programme that others may need to resign as well.

The Archbishop of York seems to disagree. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the Church is making progress towards an independent safeguarding process.

The Church this morning is reeling after the unprecedented resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Newcastle, has just released a statement saying the resignation "does not solve the Church’s profound failure" over safeguarding.

It also does not "excuse others whose neglect of their duties is exposed by the Makin report", she says.

Hartley was the only Church of England bishop who publicly called for Justin Welby to step down ahead of his resignation.

She goes on to say that she is "deeply concerned" by a letter from 31 October - shortly before the report into Smyth's abuse was released - sent to her by Welby and Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, particularly "what its tone and content says about the realities of the culture in our Church that still exist".

Some progress has been made over better safeguarding in the Church, Hartley says, but "sadly the progress made by many is being undermined by the arrogance of a few."

Victims were let down, she says, and the church needs to "commit to changing the culture of the old school: a culture that put the reputation of the Church before the protection of the vulnerable. Now is the time for fresh thinking and generous Christianity."

Although John Smyth's abuse of boys at Christian camps took place in the 1970s and 1980s, decades passed before any action was taken.

The barrister's abuse was first reported to the charity the Iwerne Trust, where he had been chairman, in the early 1980s.

A report detailing his "horrific" beatings of teenaged boys was presented to some Church leaders in 1982.

But the recipients of that report "participated in an active cover-up" to prevent its findings, including that crimes had been committed, coming to light, the Makin review - a damning independent review published last week - said.

Smyth's abuse in the UK re-emerged in 2012, when a church officer in Cambridgeshire received a letter “out of the blue” from a fellow survivor.

The Makin review stated that five police forces were told of the abuse between 2013 and 2016. Church leaders however did not lodge a formal report. Welby became Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013.

The Makin report said that if police in the UK and authorities in South Africa had been notified at this time, “Smyth could have [been] brought to justice at a much earlier point”.

It was not until 2017, after a Channel 4 documentary revealed details about Smyth's abuse to the public, that police launched a full investigation.

Smyth is believed to have continued his abuse in South Africa until his death in 2018.

While some senior Church officials say Welby stepping down may be enough, survivors of the abuse carried out by John Smyth are calling for more resignations those who failed to report him to authorities.

They also want more senior members to be questioned over the handling of the allegations.

Survivor Richard Gittins told Sky News bishop's "who kept the stories to themselves" should now be the focus of questioning.

Mark Stibbe, an author and former vicar, told Channel 4 News he thought Welby had "done the right thing" and that he and fellow survivors had been calling for his resignation for years.

An independent review published last week found Welby - the most senior bishop within the Church of England - and other church officers should have formally reported Smyth to police in the UK and authorities in South Africa in 2013.

Image source, PA Media

One final catch up from interviews with our colleagues on the Today programme, which has heard from one of the most senior bishop's in the Church of England as well.

Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, says Justin Welby "relied too much on others" by not reporting the abuse by John Smyth to authorities when he was made aware of it in 2013.

Cottrell says "those who actively covered this up [should resign], which was not bishops".

He thinks Welby's resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury is enough, "because he has resigned for the institutional failings".

"There have been great steps taken in safeguarding in the church under his watch," Cottrell adds.

"But in this case perhaps he relied too much on others, I simply don't know, but I think what I am trying to focus on now is what we need to do to make the church a safer place."

There are "deep and fundamental issues" to be addressed in the Church of England over the handling of the abuse allegations, Heath Secretary Wes Streeting has told the BBC.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today Programme earlier, the cabinet minister said Welby's resignation was "absolutely the right decision" but church leaders should not think "one head rolling solves the problem".

Streeting - who said he was speaking in a personal capacity "as an Anglican" and not as a government minister - added he feels a "deep sense of shame about the failures of the Church of England" in its handling of abuse cases.

"This is happening time and time and time again," he told the programme.

"There are deep and fundamental issues of not just practice, but culture on safeguarding that needs to be taken seriously."

Image source, Getty Images

The Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, says he is "numbed and deeply saddened at losing an Archbishop who is much loved across the Anglican Communion" in response to Welby's resignation.

In a statement, he writes: "His courageous decision to accept accountability is an important step towards eradicating, root and branch, the scandal of abuse in the church worldwide.

"The scandalous abuse of innocent people, often at the most vulnerable times of their lives, affects us all."

Makgoba adds: "The Anglican church in Cape Town in which John Smyth worshipped – for a year or two 20 years ago, and again in the final months of his life – has reported that it never received any reports suggesting he abused or groomed young people, but there is no room for complacency."

In recent years they have established a "safe and inclusive church commission", the Archbishop adds.

For context: John Smyth, who abused boys at Christian camps, moved from the UK to southern Africa. He is believed to have continued his abuse there until his death in Cape Town in 2018.

Let's recap what Julie Conalty told our colleagues on Radio 4's Today programme earlier.

On further resignations, Julie Conalty said "very possibly other people should go" but added she's "not here to name names".

She said the Church was working hard to become a safer place but "no institution, nothing, can ever be totally safe."

"We still have this institutional problem where we are not putting victims and survivors at the centre. In some ways, we are not a safe institution."

The Archbishop of Canterbury resigning was the right thing to do, Conalty said, but it was "not going to solve the problem".

"This is about institutional changes, our culture and a systemic failure so there must be more that we need to do."

• 1970s and 1980s: John Smyth physically abused boys at Christian camps in the UK and Africa

• 1982: An investigation by the Iwerne Trust, which ran the camps, uncovers claims of abuse - but does not report it to police

• 2013: Church of England knew "at the highest level" about the allegations, says Makin report

• 2013: Police were notified - Welby now says he "believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow"

• 2016: The Iwerne Trust’s report was made public

• 2017: Channel 4 News investigation highlights the findings

• 2018: Smyth dies in Cape Town, having not faced justice

• 2019: Independent report commissioned, led by Keith Makin, to look into Church’s handling of the Smyth case

• 7 November 2024: Makin report published - but Justin Welby says he won't resign

• 12 November: Justin Welby resigns - saying "it is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024"

Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of the crisis inside the Church of England.

On Tuesday, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned - days after a damning report into how the Church handled abuse by John Smyth at Christian camps from the 1970s onwards.

This morning, the Bishop of Birkenhead, Julie Conalty, accepted that "in some ways, we are not a safe institution".

Bishop Conalty is also the Church's deputy lead bishop for safeguarding.

Stay with us for the latest news, analysis, and background reports.

Image source, Getty Images