The independent review by Keith Makin into the Church of England’s handling of allegations of serious abuse by the late John Smyth has been published today (7 November 2024).
The aims of this review are to:
- Establish what the Church of England knew about the abuse
- Explore what the Church should have known, within the best practices and standards at the time of the abuse
- Make recommendations on changes that can be made to help avoid such abuse happening again
Keith Makin, who led the independent review, said: “The abuse at the hands of John Smyth was prolific and abhorrent. Words cannot adequately describe the horror of what transpired.
“Many of the victims who took the brave decision to speak to us about what they experienced have carried this abuse silently for more than 40 years.
“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 coverup.
“The Church and its associated organisations must learn from this review and implement robust safeguarding procedures across their organisations that are governed independently.
“This has been a long process but a necessary one to uncover the extent of John Smyth’s despicable behaviour and how the Church reacted to it.
“I would like to sincerely thank the victims for their courage, grace and dignity and I would like to remind everyone reporting on this review about their right to anonymity and privacy.”
Bishop Julie Conalty, Bishop of Birkenhead and the Deputy Lead Bishop for Safeguarding for the Church of England has responded in this statement.
“I welcome the, long awaited, Learning Lessons Review into John Smyth QC by Keith Makin which was published today.
“I am still absorbing the findings, but John Smyth was a prolific abuser of children and young men, and it is now clear that this was actively covered up from the early 1980s by a number of key individuals including some prominent lay people and ordained clergy within the Church of England. It is also apparent that opportunities were missed by senior church leaders to ensure that John Smyth was not able to further commit abuse. It is appalling that a criminal investigation into Smyth’s abuse did not take place until 2017 and that he died before he was brought to justice.
“The lasting effects of abuse on the victims – both in the UK and in Zimbabwe – cannot be overstated. I want to pay tribute to all those who during a period of over 40 years have disclosed that they were abused by John Smyth and I only wish the Church of England had responded better and more incisively. I also want to thank those survivors who participated in this review, at great personal cost.
I would urge anybody impacted by this report or who has been abused to seek support.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's PM programme on Friday 8 November, Bishop Julie said: "We are serious about trying to improve things in the Church and I do believe some improvements are made, but this does undermine trust." Listen here: >> BBC Radio 4 - PM, Fury within Church of England over abuse report
The full report can be found here.
A press release from the Church of England can be found here.
If you or anyone you are in contact with are affected by the publication of this report and want to talk to someone independently please call the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 or visit safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk.
Alternatively, you may wish to contact the safeguarding team at the Diocese of Chester safeguarding@chester.anglican.org or the National Safeguarding Team at safeguarding@churchofengland.org.