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John Smyth, a prolific abuser of children and young men associated with the Church of England, escaped justice for decades due to an “active cover-up” within the Church, according to the Makin review published earlier this month. Smyth’s crimes were not reported to UK police for over 30 years because of this cover-up, the report found. Detectives were not informed until the summer of 2013, and only then because one victim had asked for counselling. The Bishop of Ely’s safeguarding adviser passed limited details to officers, but they were reportedly told that Smyth’s actions were “an abuse of trust” that was unlikely to meet the criminal investigation threshold.
Keith Makin, author of the Smyth review, suggested that the police may have been “overwhelmed” by the number of historical abuse allegations they were dealing with following the case of Jimmy Savile. When an investigation was finally launched in 2017, it was only due to press coverage. Channel 4 News had been tipped off about the Ruston report into Smyth’s behaviour, and Smyth survivor Andrew Graystone hoped media scrutiny would prompt the police to act. The Crown Prosecution Service did eventually find a case to answer against Smyth, but he died before he could be brought back from South Africa for questioning.
Hampshire Police have admitted to missing a “critical and important opportunity” in 2014, when they first received a report of abuse from a Titus Trust representative. The report listed multiple abuse allegations but did not include victim identities. The representative declined to provide these, and police did not pursue the report. Meanwhile, detectives investigating allegations of historical sexual abuse faced “resourcing challenges” from the “massive increase” in such reports across the UK, according to the National Police Chiefs Council.
Justin Welby resigned as the Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this month after criticism of his response to the Smyth allegations. The Makin report described Smyth as “the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England”. The report found that individuals within the church suppressed evidence of his crimes in the 1980s. Smyth was subsequently able to move to southern Africa, where he continued to abuse boys at Anglican schools
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