Calls for more resignations over John Smyth failures

Victims of prolific abuser John Smyth have called for more resignations after the Archbishop of Canterbury’s decision to step down over his failure to report the abuse to police.

Archbishop Justin Welby resigned on Tuesday after being strongly criticised within the Makin Review over his failure to report “prolific and abhorrent” child abuse perpetrated by Smyth across a long time. 

The Makin Review accused the Church of England of a “cover-up” and said the abuse “could and may have been reported to the police in 2013”.

Announcing his resignation, Welby said that “stepping aside is in one of the best interests of the Church of England”.

“It could be very clear that I have to take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024,” he said. 

Former vicar Mark Stibbe, a Smyth survivor, said that Welby had “done the correct thing” in resigning but that more leaders within the Church of England should go. 

“What I believe the survivor group would love is more resignations because which means more accountability,” he told Channel 4 News.

Another survivor who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity has called on the Bishop of Lincoln, Stephen Conway, to resign over his failure to act on a disclosure while serving as Bishop of Ely. 

In a press release, Bishop Conway said he was “deeply sorry” for not doing enough but didn’t reply to calls for his resignation. 

“As a part of my submission to the Review, I confirmed that in my tenure because the Bishop of Ely, I received a disclosure about John Smyth,” he said. 

“Once it became clear that there was a global dimension which directly affected one other province of the Anglican Communion, I made an in depth disclosure to Lambeth Palace and contacted the relevant diocese in South Africa to alert them to the difficulty.

“It was my understanding that this matter was reported to the Police in Cambridgeshire and duly passed on to the police in Hampshire where the abuse had occurred.

“I’m clear that I did all inside my authority as a Bishop of the Church of England, taking into consideration that I had no authority over a wholly independent province on one other continent.

“I acknowledge fully that my fault was in not rigorously pursuing Lambeth about that province-to-province communication, and for this I’m deeply sorry.”

The Bishop of Winchester, Phillip Mounstephen, was asked on BBC Newsnight whether the Bishop of Lincoln should resign. 

In reply, Bishop Mounstephen said, “Appropriate, proportionate motion must be taken with anyone who has failed in safeguarding terms, whatever their position within the church could also be.” 

Responding to the Archbishop’s resignation, bishops within the Diocese of Blackburn said that the Church of England has an “enormous” task on its hands to reform its safeguarding culture.

In a joint letter sent to parishioners within the diocese, Lancashire bishops Philip North, Jill Duff and Joe Kennedy said the Archbishop’s decision was “comprehensible” and that “it is just right that those in probably the most senior positions are held to the very best standards”. 

“As the Church of England, we now have an infinite task in front of us,” they said.

“We must renew our Church such that it places the needs of probably the most vulnerable, including survivors of abuse, on the centre. We must reform our safeguarding culture and processes with a purpose to regain people’s confidence. We must hear the voices of critics as prophetic ones.”