THE report on the Church of England’s handling of the abuse allegations against John Smyth is to be published on 13 November — greater than five years after its creator, Keith Makin, was commissioned by the Church to review the matter (News, 16 August 2019).
Allegations against Smyth had been reported by Channel 4 News two years previously, in 2017 (News, 10 February 2017), when Smyth was still alive. He died in 2018, before he might be questioned.
An announcement from the Church’s National Safeguarding Team on Tuesday confirmed that it had now received the independent review.
“An in depth plan, drawn up in consultation with survivors, is now in place to enable people who decide to accomplish that to read the document prematurely in a timely manner and with support on request.”
Availability over the half-term period had been taken into consideration. “Once this process has been accomplished the report might be published in full on Wednesday November 13. On this present day survivors may have the chance for a confidential webinar to ask questions. After the survivor webinar there might be a separate press conference.”
The publication of the Makin review has been put back repeatedly, after initially being expected in May 2020 (News, 6 August 2021; News, 18 April 2023; News, 11 August 2023). Earlier this 12 months, Mr Makin denied that these delays were due to pressure from the Church of England (News, 19 January).
Individuals criticised within the review were to be given a probability to reply in March (a process generally known as “Maxwellisation”), he said at the moment, with a view to publication soon afterwards. But that month, one survivor, generally known as Graham Jones — after seeing a draft of the report for fact-checking under a non-disclosure agreement — withdrew his co-operation, saying that the draft represented a “mere shadow” of the case (News, 15 March).
In May, Mr Makin apologised that his review wouldn’t be published that month as previously promised, but at a date yet to be set (News, 17 May). The Maxwellisation stage had began “later than planned”, he had said, “because there was a considerable change to a contribution to the review, at the ultimate stages of completion”.
