Archbishop of Canterbury's son tells why dad 'right to quit' over abuse scandal

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The Archbishop of Canterbury’s son says his dad was right to quit his job and revealed his dad was “appalled and embarrassed” by the way the Church of England abuse scandal has been handled.

In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Justin Welby's son Tim said, despite the scandal this week, he was “so very proud" of his dad who will now spend much of remaining time in office helping the victims of the notorious Church of England abuser John Smyth.

Tim revealed his father had “wrongly assumed” the police had been informed earlier about Smyth’s appalling predatory attacks. The 40-year-old said: “He’s definitely very embarrassed and appalled by what’s happened. I know he’s going to spend a lot of his time left in office, having conversations with some of the people and trying to make sure that things are set up in the right way.

"He’s trying to meet with people who were the victims of Smyth but others as well. He will be doing a lot of that. That’s going to be one of his primary focuses.”

Tim, from Fleet, Hampshire spoke about how his dad had analysed his handling of the scandal. He resigned earlier this week following widespread criticism of the Church’s handling of the scandal involving Smyth and explained: “The frustrating thing is I don’t think it ever occurred to him that it hadn’t been reported to the police. When, as Archbishop, you are told that something has happened it has usually gone through so many hands. It seemed utterly inconceivable that someone wouldn’t have said to the police: ‘This has been going on’.

“He is really, really cross that it didn’t occur to him - to triple check that someone had actually done that. If you discover a crime then, of course, it gets reported. I wouldn’t say he was naive so much. Certainly, if it had happened later on, he would have known what was going on and would have been more explicit.”

He added: “It feels more like a political decision to resign where something’s gone wrong in the office. The person at the top is always responsible. His position became untenable, simply because so many people were calling for his resignation.”

Tim said the Church of England must identify people like Smyth earlier in their careers before they got the chance to abuse their victims. He explained: “If you have people who are that way inclined you need to make sure that they get weeded out and that they aren’t in the job in the first place, it’s very hard.”

Smyth is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church of England. He sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Zimbabwe and South Africa over five decades.

He was a barrister and an evangelical Christian, who held several leadership roles in the Iwerne Trust in the 1970s and 1980s. The Trust was a charity that organised summer camps for young Christians.

He died in Cape Town in 2018 aged 75. One of Smyth’s victims, Andrew Morse, was abused for four years by Smyth from the age of 17 during the 1970s and 1980s. To him, Welby’s admission that he had not done enough means the Archbishop and Church of England had effectively been involved in a “cover-up”.

After a Channel 4 documentary broadcast in 2017, Hampshire Police opened an investigation into Smyth’s abuse. Morse told the BBC he believes the “cover-up” extended until 2017 when Channel 4’s report was broadcast which then led to a “proper police investigation”.

In the interview, Tim said: “I remain very proud of my dad and what he accomplished over the years for the church and healing potential rifts in it.” He also explained that his father had never actually aimed to become the head of the Anglican church.

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Tim recalled: “He never actually sought to be Archbishop of Canterbury. In fact, when the former Archbishop retired all the Bishops were asked to write a CV and explain why they should get the job. But my father wrote a long list of reasons why he should not.

“So he was a little bit confused when he then got the job. He wasn’t very keen to have the job in the first place. I think he has enjoyed the challenges of being the Archbishop of Canterbury.

“It’s not positions that he cares about. No, no, he’s always wanted to be where he felt God wanted him to be.” One small silver lining for Tim is now the family will have more time to spend together. He finished by saying: “He’s my father. He’s a good man and I love him a lot.

“Dad was right to resign - it was the correct decision. I’m so very proud of my dad for all he has done throughout his life and his work for the Church of England.”

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