John Smyth QC: Decades of abuse covered up by church, report says

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An independent review has found that John Smyth QC, who died in South Africa in 2018 aged 77, was the most prolific serial abuser to be connected with the Church of England. Over 100 boys and young men were violently and horrifically abused at his home in Winchester during the 1970s and 1980s, in attacks that were “covered up” by the church. Reports of his behaviour were revealed by an investigation by Channel 4 News in 2017. In 2016, a report by the Iwerne Trust, which had related to Smyth’s abuse of boys, dating from the early 1980s, was made public.
 
Smyth was a barrister who represented morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse and ran summer camps for young evangelical Christians at which he identified pupils from prestigious schools. He encouraged them to visit his property near Winchester where he carried out lashings with a garden cane. The practice was described as “horrific” by the Iwerne Trust, which revealed that Smyth had administered 14,000 lashes to eight boys and 8,000 strok

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