More than 100 children and young men were subjected to severe abuse by Cambridge barrister John Smyth QC, who was connected to the Church of England, according to the conclusion of a report.The abuse, which was deemed "abhorrent," was kept under wraps for years inside church circles, according to the report, which raises concerns about institutional protection and responsibility.
According to the BBC, John Smyth QC is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England, a long-awaited independent review found.
Smyth QC, who died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018, was accused of attacking boys at his Winchester home who he had met at a Christian summer camp in Dorset during the 1970s and 1980s.
On publication of the findings, the Archbishop of Canterbury apologised again to victims and said Smyth's abuse had "manipulated Christian truth to justify his evil acts." Smyth had also worked as a barrister, representing morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse, while he ran the camps for young evangelical Christians. Reports of his physical abuse of boys were revealed in an investigation by Channel 4 News in February 2017.
According to an independent study, the Church of England did nothing about a 1982 Iwerne Trust report that exposed the abuse of more than 100 boys from prestigious institutions by John Smyth QC.
According to reports, Smyth struck eight boys with a garden cane for a total of 14,000 hits, while two other boys were struck 8,000 times during a three-year period. The abuse was deemed "horrific," but it wasn't reported to the police until 2013.
Smyth was told to leave the country and move to Zimbabwe rather than face justice. Church officials are criticised in the study for knowing about the abuse but doing little to stop it, which allowed Smyth to carry on with his activities.
