Church warned Welby resignation ‘tip of the iceberg’ as pressure grows over sex abuse scandal

Campaigner warns of ‘many other abusers’ within Church of England after damning reporting into John Smyth

The scandal that led to the resignation of Justin Welby has been called “just the tip of the iceberg”, as one bishop warned the Church of England is “not a safe institution”.

Jayne Ozanne, a prominent LGBT+ campaigner who sat on the Archbishops’ Council, said the resignation of Justin Welby, had to be a “watershed moment” for the Church.

Ms Ozanne told the BBC: “This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many other abusers that have been covered up for the good of the church.

“We must look afresh at how we empower and allow leaders to speak out when they disagree rather than muzzling them.

“When you just work as a pack and go silent, that silence is deafening, particularly for survivors.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stood down in the wake of the John Smyth scandal (WPA ROTA)

Mr Welby said on Tuesday that his decision to step down – which came after days of pressure following a damning report into abuse cover-up – was in the best interests of the Church.

Victims of John Smyth, a barrister who led Christian summer camps and is thought to be the most prolific abuser associated with the Church, have called for further resignations from senior clergy members involved in the scandal.

It came as Bishop of Birkenhead Julie Conalty said she couldn’t guarantee that abuse is not still going on in the Church.

“We still have this institutional problem where we are not putting victims and survivors at the centre. In some ways, we are not a safe institution,” she said.

John Smyth is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks (Channel 4)

She added she believes Mr Welby has “done the right thing” – but his resignation is “not going to solve the problem”.

“It is frustrating for me because in many ways we have been working really hard at making churches safer places. No institution, nothing, can ever be totally safe but there has been loads of really good work going on,” she said.

“This is about institutional changes, our culture and a systemic failure, so there must be more that we need to do.”

Keith Makin, who led the independent review, said last week that “despite the efforts of some individuals to bring the abuse to the attention of authorities, the responses by the Church of England and others were wholly ineffective and amounted to a cover-up”.

Health secretary Wes Streeting, who said he was speaking “as an Anglican, not as a government minister”, said it was “absolutely the right decision” for Mr Welby to resign, but church leaders should not think “one head rolling solves the problem”.

He told the Today programme there are “deep and fundamental issues of not just practice, but culture on safeguarding that needs to be taken seriously”.

In his resignation statement, Mr Welby said he was quitting “in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse” and that the past few days had “renewed my long-felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England”.

The review concluded that Smyth might have been brought to justice had the Archbishop formally reported him to police in 2013.

Across five decades in three different countries and involving as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa, Smyth is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives.

He died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the review said.

It emerged Justin Welby’s automatic peerage may be in doubt over his “failures” to alert authorities about John Smyth QC’s “abhorrent” abuse of children and young men.

Archbishops of Canterbury have, by convention, been given lifetime peerages allowing them to continue to sit in the Lords when they retire.

But a Downing Street spokesperson declined to confirm that Welby would receive the honour.

Mr Welby’s successor will become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, with Stephen Cottrell – the Archbishop of York – among the possible successors.

Stephen Cottrell will assume the role of the Church of England’s temporary leader, as the selection process takes place.

Other frontrunners for the role include Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London; Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford; Michael Beasley, Bishop of Bath and Wells; Martyn Snow, Bishop of Leicester; and Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich.