Hear no evil…

C of E abuse , Issue 1530

LIKE buses, Church of England inquiries into sexual abuse come in threes. Unlike buses, they rarely reach their destination.

In July 2019, the church said it was holding “Lessons Learned” inquiries into three of the most notorious scandals – an announcement conveniently timed to pre-empt the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which was turning its spotlight on the C of E the following week. All three were due to conclude months ago, but nothing has appeared. If you stand at the bus stop outside Lambeth Palace, all you hear is the sound of cans being kicked down the road.

The first inquiry is into serial abuser Bishop Victor Whitsey. He has been dead for 30 years, but many of his victims are still alive and suffering. The case comes uncomfortably close to a living bishop, Robert Hardy, who served as Whitsey’s curate in Manchester and was later accused of failing to deal with abuse he knew about in Lincoln. The Whitsey review could have begun three years ago, when Cheshire Police concluded its investigation. Instead the church said it would start mid-2019 and produce a report in March 2020. There’s still no sign of it.

Spirited away to Zimbabwe

The second review is into the alleged rapist Revd Trevor Devamanikkam. He took his own life in 2017 on the eve of his trial, so an inquiry could have started then instead of waiting another two and a half years. The case comes uncomfortably close to the C of E’s most senior lawyer, Canon John Rees, who served as a curate under Devamanikkam in Leeds. The report was due in May 2020 but has not appeared.

The third inquiry is into John Smyth QC, the Anglican lay reader who beat young men in his shed in Winchester, before being spirited away to Zimbabwe, where he continued his attacks on boys as young as 11. The church could have launched an inquiry in August 2013, when a full account of the abuse arrived on Archbishop Justin Welby’s desk. Instead it waited another five years, then failed to appoint a reviewer for a further year.

The report was originally due in May 2020 but has been postponed twice and is now expected in 2021. It is likely to criticise dozens of prominent clergy who had known about Smyth’s abuse since the 1980s but said nothing. The reviewer is paid £650 a day, so he can hardly be blamed for taking his time.

Known abuser

One known abuser who is still alive to spill the beans is Revd Jonathan Fletcher. He was patron and mentor to a generation of evangelical leaders, including Revd Nicky Gumbel of Holy Trinity Brompton, Revd Hugh Palmer of All Souls, Langham Place, and Revd Will Taylor of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate.

Curiously, the national C of E has chosen not to inquire into Fletcher’s predatory behaviour with generations of young men (Eyes passim). It has been left to his former church to commission its own review. That began in December 2019 and was due to report in May 2020. Surprise, surprise, the deadline has now been extended to an unspecified time in 2021.