Cops urge possible victims of Archbishop of Canterbury’s former colleague to come forward
John Smyth, 75, is said to have beaten teenage boys at a Christian camp in the 1970s
POLICE probing physical abuse allegations against a former colleague of the Archbishop of Canterbury have appealed for possible victims to call them.
John Smyth QC, 75, of Winchester, Hants, is said to have beaten teenage boys at a Christian camp in the 1970s.
He has refused to discuss it.
The Archbishop of Canterbury issued an “unresereved and unequivocal apology” after it emerged he worked at holiday camps where teenage boys had been abused.
The Most Rev Justin Welby said the Church had “failed terribly” by not reporting Smyth, the head of the Christian charity that ran the summer camps, to police after he was accused of abusing boys in the 1970s.
A Channel 4 News investigation, reported in , is expected to reveal Smyth forced public schoolboys to strip naked before subjecting them to savage beatings.
In a statement the Archbishop said that he had been friends with Smyth during the late Seventies, when he worked at the camps, run by the Iwerne Trust, and had kept in “occasional” contact with the barrister since.
He was made aware of the allegations in 2013 when the police were involved.
The QC is accused of recruiting 22 young men into a cult in which they agreed to let him administer tens of thousands of lashes with a garden cane, supposedly to purge them of minor sins such as masturbation and pride.
The beatings, which took place in a shed in the garden of Mr Smyth’s Winchester home, were so intense that the victims were left with lasting scars.
One alleged victim, Mark Stibbe, alleged Mr Smyth told him the beatings would “help you become holy”.
Another alleged victim, Richard Gittins, said boys were forced to wear adult nappies til their wounds healed.
The assault only came to light in 1982, when one boy attempted suicide after being ordered to submit himself to another beating.
The Iwerne Trust commissioned a report which concluded: “The scale and severity of the practice was horrific.”
But Smyth was never reported to cops.
He was instead allowed to move to South Africa after agreeing never to work with children again.
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When quizzed by the allegations by Channel 4 News Smyth said: “I’m not talking about that.
“I’m not talking about that at all.”
When asked if he had any regrets about driving one victim to attempt suicide he shook his head.
He said: “I don’t, I’m not talking about this.
“I’m sorry it’s...How did you know I was here?
The scale and severity of the practice was horrific
“I am not talking about what we did at all.”
When asked if what he did was Christian, he said: “I’m not answering any questions.”
A statement from the Archbishop said: “The Archbishop of Canterbury was a Dormitory Officer at Iwerne holiday camp in the late 1970s, where boys from public schools learnt to develop life as Christians.
"The role was to be a mentor to the boys, as was that of his now wife at a similar camp for girls.
“John Smyth was one of the main leaders at the camp and although the Archbishop worked with him, he was not part of the inner circle of friends; no one discussed allegations of abuse by John Smyth with him.
“The Archbishop left England to work in Paris for an oil company in 1978, where he remained for five years.
“The Archbishop knew Mr Smyth had moved overseas but, apart from the occasional card, did not maintain contact with him.
“We recognise that many institutions fail catastrophically, but the Church is meant to hold itself to a far, far higher standard and we have failed terribly.
“For that the Archbishop apologises unequivocally and unreservedly to all survivors.”
Winchester College, where some of the young men met Smyth, was made aware of the alleged abuse, but also failed to report it to the police at the time.
“There is no suggestion that any abuse took place at the College or with the knowledge of its staff.