Former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has expressed being “overwhelmed” by the sheer volume of child sex abuse allegations brought to his attention during his tenure.
Dr Welby’s resignation in November followed a damning report that revealed his failure to adequately address reports concerning serial abuser John Smyth, who held significant influence within the Church of England. The report concluded that Smyth, considered the most prolific abuser connected to the Church, could have faced justice sooner had Dr Welby formally reported the allegations to authorities in 2013.
This inaction allowed Smyth to evade accountability for a longer period, highlighting a critical lapse in safeguarding procedures within the Church.
In his first interview since his resignation, the former archbishop told the BBC he failed to follow proper procedure because of the sheer scale and size of the problem.
“Every day more cases were coming across the desk that had been in the past, hadn’t been dealt with adequately, and this was just, it was another case – and yes, I knew Smyth, but it was an absolutely overwhelming few weeks,” he said in an interview for this weekend’s BBC One show Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.
He added: “It was overwhelming, one was trying to prioritise – but I think it’s easy to sound defensive over this.
“The reality is I got it wrong. As archbishop, there are no excuses, being overwhelmed is a reason, it isn’t an excuse.”
The Makin Review, published on 7 November last year, found Smyth had subjected as many as 130 boys and young men to traumatic attacks across five decades in three different countries in the UK and Africa.
The then archbishop resisted calls to resign for several days after its publication before announcing he was stepping down on 12 November, saying he had decided to go “in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve”.
On 5 December, Dr Welby gave his final speech in the House of Lords saying that while safeguarding in the Church of England is “a completely different picture to the past”, it is “clear” he had to quit.
Critics accused him of making light of serious safeguarding failures in the address after his references to a 14th-century beheading drew laughter from the Lords’ benches. He also remarked: “If you pity anyone, pity my poor diary secretary” who had seen weeks and months of work “disappear in a puff of a resignation announcement”.
After a victim of Smyth said he was “appalled” by the “tone-deaf” speech, Dr Welby apologised the next day, adding: “It did not intend to overlook the experience of survivors, or to make light of the situation – and I am very sorry for having done so.”
Smyth died in 2018 in Cape Town aged 75 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and so was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the Makin Review said.
The song Elon Musk decried as anti-white hits the headlines in South Africa again
Man discharged after coming into contact with mystery substance near Salisbury
Tesco warns customers of major Clubcard change they need to make before Monday
Major supermarket recalls popular snack over salmonella fears
Parents arrested for complaining about school in WhatsApp group
Grounded: The questions Heathrow must answer over fire shutdown
