Lord Sentamu: Former Archbishop of York rejects child sex abuse review

Lord Sentamu claimed the letter he was sent by the victim was not a disclosure

The former Archbishop of York has rejected the findings of a review which found he failed to act on a victim's disclosure of child sex abuse.

The Church of England has apologised to Matthew Ineson, who was aged 16 when he was abused in the 1980s in Bradford.

His abuser, the Reverend Trevor Devamanikkam, killed himself before he was due to appear in court.

Lord Sentamu should have sought advice when the victim made his disclosure, the independent review found.

Devamanikkam was charged with six serious sexual offences in May 2017, all relating to the survivor. He was found dead at his home the day before he was due to appear at Bradford Magistrates' Court.

Trevor Devamanikkam was accused of abusing a teenage boy in the 80s

The independent review, commissioned by the National Safeguarding Team of the Church of England, found Mr Ineson, a retired vicar, had been sexually abused by Devamanikkam.

In 2013, Mr Ineson told senior clergy, including John Sentamu, who was then Archbishop of York, about the abuse.

But the review, by senior social care consultant Jane Humphreys, said clergy "failed to act on his disclosures" and he was "not supported to refer the disclosures to the police".

Lord Sentamu rejected the findings, insisting there had been a "fundamental misunderstanding" on Ms Humphreys' part of the "jurisdictional, pastoral and legal responsibilities of diocesan bishops and archbishops in the Church of England".

He added that the safeguarding matter had been in the Diocese of Sheffield "and therefore not for the diocesan safeguarding adviser for York Diocese".

However, Bishop Joanne Grenfell, safeguarding lead for the House of Bishops, said: "The Church should be ashamed that a vulnerable 16-year-old in its care was let down by the Church and abused by someone in a position of trust.

"We are truly sorry for the abuse he suffered and for our failure to respond well."

Matthew Ineson said church leaders failed to act when he made abuse allegations

The review found Mr Ineson had sent a letter to the then Bishop of Sheffield in which he disclosed the historical abuse he had suffered, and copied it to the then Archbishop of York.

In it, the victim said he had already disclosed twice to the Bishop of Sheffield his non-recent abuse but the bishop had not acted on this.

The review said Lord Sentamu had replied to acknowledge the communication, adding: "Please be assured of my prayers and best wishes during this testing time."

Ms Humphreys concluded that Lord Sentamu should have sought advice from his diocesan safeguarding adviser on how to proceed.

Ms Humphreys added Lord Sentamu said he had believed he had "no authority" to act on the matter and the letter was not a disclosure to him as he was only copied in.

But the reviewer said "no Church law excuses the responsibility of individuals not to act on matters of a safeguarding nature".

Mr Ineson, who has waived his legal right to anonymity, said he had not engaged with the review as it did not give a "full or independent picture of what happened in my case".

He said he had wanted a "fully independent process to get to the truth" but that the reviewer had been "hand-picked by the Church".

In a statement issued through his solicitor, Mr Ineson said: "All I've ever wanted is for the Church to find out what went wrong so others don't have to go through [it] in the future."