The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, resigned yesterday after facing mounting pressure following the publication of a report which criticised the Church of England’s failure to properly respond to the serial abuser John Smyth.
Smyth, a prominent evangelical, was not brought to justice before his death in South Africa in 2018. During the 1970s and 80s he abused boys and young men who attended evangelical summer camps.
Smyth also identified pupils from leading public schools including Winchester College. He took boys to his Winchester home and lashed them with a garden cane in his shed. According to reports, eight of the boys received a total of 14,000 lashes, while two more received 8,000 strokes between them over three years.
