The former Archbishop of Canterbury said he is willing to forgive serial abuser John Smyth, and reiterated that he "didn't have a clue" about Smyth's behavior before the matter surfaced in 2013.
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.
