THE way by which the Church of England commissions and completes safeguarding reviews into past cases should be “done in another way” in future, to avoid repeated delays that retraumatising survivors, the Church’s lead safeguarding bishop has said.
The Bishop of Stepney, Dr Joanne Grenfell, was responding to an announcement from Keith Makin, the writer of the long-overdue report on the violent abuse perpetrated by John Smyth, which confirmed that a publication date for his review wouldn’t be set until the tip of the summer on the earliest.
Since Mr Makin was commissioned by the Church to review the Smyth case in 2019 (News, 16 August 2019), there have been 15 announcements about delays to the timetable, most recently in May, when the report was then as a consequence of be published (News, 17 May).
Mr Makin said at the moment that the method referred to as “Maxwellisation” — through which individuals criticised within the review are given a likelihood to reply pre-publication — had began later than planned due to “a considerable change to a contribution to the review, at the ultimate stages of completion”.
In March, a survivor of Smyth, referred to as Graham Jones — after seeing a draft of the report for fact-checking under a non-disclosure agreement — had withdrawn his co-operation, saying that the draft represented a “mere shadow” of the case (News, 15 March).
On Tuesday, Mr Makin said that this representations process was “progressing”. “Those named and criticised within the review report have been given the chance to comment on the extracts that are relevant to them. Once their responses have been received and thought of and any amendments arising from this made, I’ll hand the report back to the Archbishops’ Council for subsequent publication.
“This is unlikely to be until the tip of the summer as my priority is to be certain that this final stage is fastidiously conducted, recognising the impact on all those affected. I confirm this will probably be done as soon as practically possible.”
Responding, Mr Jones said: “These further delays are making victims increasingly frustrated and offended. . . Victims have been told consistently that every one Maxwellisation letters needed to be sent out concurrently, whereas it appears they’ve been sent out in dribs and drabs over a minimum of five weeks, and it’s unclear whether all letters have now actually been sent. This cannot proceed.”
He concluded: “This review must be taken out of the hands of Keith Makin and handed to a reliable KC or independent person to get this published as soon as possible.”
In an announcement that was also released on Tuesday, Dr Grenfell said that, while she was “deeply disillusioned” by the further delay, she was “aware of the complexities and demands of this review, originally commissioned in 2019, on all involved. . .
“I understand and deeply regret that victims and survivors are actually experiencing further trauma for this reason latest delay within the revised timetable. Colleagues within the National Safeguarding Team are equally frustrated by this further delay, and are engaging frequently with the reviewer on this.
“At this point, given the complex nature of the review, the present investment of time, and the constraints of knowledge handling, we consider that one of the best option continues to be to proceed and to attend for the revised timeline for completion. However, we proceed to review all options available to us.”
Last 12 months, Andrew Graystone, an advocate for the survivors of Smyth’s abuse who has written a book concerning the case, Bleeding for Jesus (Books, 1 October 2021), said that the review had been hampered, partly, by a scarcity of resources (News, 11 August 2023).
He said: “The Church decided that the duty of reviewing a case lasting over 40 years with greater than 100 victims may very well be handled by one part-time reviewer contracted for just two days per week, with a part-time assistant. The Church either didn’t recognise the dimensions of the review it was launching, or just didn’t care.”
Dr Grenfell concluded: “We need to make sure in the longer term that the commissioning of reviews is completed in another way and in keeping with the timescales and good practice set out within the Safeguarding Practice Review Code agreed at General Synod last 12 months.”
Last month, the Church’s national director of safeguarding, Alexander Kubeyinje, in response to grievances aired by survivors still awaiting church reviews (News, 21 June), said that, “As a results of the real concerns raised by victims and survivors, I actually have personally sought assurances across the outstanding reviews.”
Mr Jones said on Tuesday: “These are only meaningless words when the Makin review is delayed by a minimum of 1500 days, and with no publication date suggested until a minimum of the tip of the summer.”
