A Panel of Inquiry faulted the church’s failure to pass on allegations about the serial abuser to an evangelical congregation he joined in 2014, and said that failures in implementing its safeguarding system leaves congregants at risk.
Sexual allegations against veteran barrister Jeremy Gauntlett came after he was one of three people appointed to investigate whether the late John Smyth engaged in sexual abuse while living in South Africa.
Noting that “heads had to roll” in response to the Church of England’s safeguarding problems, he compared himself to a predecessor, whose head rolled down Tower Hill after being struck off during the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.
Senior British police officers claim that Archbishop Justin Welby and other Church of England leaders properly reported accusations of John Smyth’s abuse to the police in 2013, challenging a key claim of the Makin Report, which resulted in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s resignation on November 12.
Archbishop Makgoba: “Archbishop Desmond Tutu used to say that no one is beyond the love of God, that no one is irredeemably evil, but I have to say that Smyth’s vicious and foul abuse of young men tests that belief.”
Archbishop Justin Welby's resignation comes five days after a long-awaited report on serial abuser John Smyth cast doubts on how Welby responded to that scandal.
A lengthy and grimly detailed report about the late John Smyth, whom Archbishop Justin Welby knew as a young man, has led to multiple calls for him to resign.
In 30 years as vicar of Emmanuel Church Wimbledon, the Rev. Jonathan Fletcher, now 78, is alleged to have engaged in naked beatings, swimming, and massages, as well as other sexual misconduct, and bullying and "spiritual abuse." Fletcher, who played a prominent role in the conservative evangelical movement, was a leader of the since-closed Iwerne Camp, a Christian camp that catered to participants from top boarding schools.
The Church of England's National Safeguarding Team is reviewing a charge that Archbishop Justin Welby failed to follow up on accusations of abuse lodged against his former mentor, evangelical camp leader John Smyth.
