George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, is among 10 Church of England clergy who could face disciplinary proceedings over the way the church handled allegations of abuse carried out by the barrister John Smyth.
A damning independent report, the Makin review, into Smyth’s alleged sadistic abuse of more than 100 boys and young men over decades led to the resignation of Justin Welby as archbishop of Canterbury in November and has sent shockwaves through the C of E.
Survivors of Smyth’s abuse asked why Welby was not among those facing possible disciplinary action.
Lord Carey, who retired as archbishop in 2002, was told about Smyth’s abuse but failed to take proper action, the review found. Carey denied seeing a report about Smyth’s actions.
The former archbishop resigned as a priest in December after an investigation into the C of E’s handling of a separate sexual abuse case, but he could still be banned from ministry for life.
After the Makin review was published in November, the C of E’s national safeguarding team said clergy named in the report could face action if they posed an immediate safeguarding risk, or were responsible for failures of leadership, moral accountability or reputation risk to the church.
The maximum penalty faced by the 10 clergy is a life prohibition from church ministry. A new C of E disciplinary measure that allows priests to be “defrocked”, or stripped of their holy orders, was given final approval by the general synod, the church’s ruling body, this month but is yet to come into effect.
Paul Butler, who was bishop of Durham until a year ago, also faces disciplinary proceedings, along with Rev Sue Colman, who is married to Sir Jamie Colman, heir to the mustard dynasty. The Colmans were named in a damning report as financial backers of Smyth.
The other priests named are Andrew Cornes, Roger Combes, Tim Hastie-Smith, Hugh Palmer, Paul Perkin, Nick Stott and John Woolmer.
All cases are outside a 12-month time limit for complaints, so the national safeguarding team will apply for “out of time” disciplinary proceedings.
The team has not said how long the process is likely to take, other than it hopes it will be weeks, rather than months or years.
The independent review, conducted by Keith Makin, concluded that Smyth, thought to be the most prolific serial abuser associated with the church, might have been brought to justice had Welby formally reported allegations to police in 2013.
Smyth died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire police, and so never faced justice.
Alexander Kubeyinje, the C of E’s national director of safeguarding, said: “We know this will never undo the harm caused but the church is committed to taking very seriously its response to the findings of the review as well as responding to its recommendations.”
Since Welby’s resignation, Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, and currently de facto leader of the church, has faced calls to resign over alleged failures regarding other claims of abuse and misconduct.
A group of victims and survivors of Smyth’s abuse said disclosures of Smyth’s abuse were made to “the very highest levels of the C of E”; however, “none of the bishops and archbishops who were involved in that failure will face any sanctions …
“Almost all of those who are to be subject to disciplinary processes are now retired. None of us are aware of the reasons why [disciplinary action] should be sought for these 10, but not for others criticised in the Makin review. It is unclear, for example, why Archbishop Justin Welby, who resigned over his ‘personal and moral’ failings is excluded.”
