Archbishop of Canterbury considered resigning over barrister abuse cases at Winchester College

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby considered resigning after a report said a British barrister who abused more than 100 children and young men could have been brought to justice a decade ago.
John Smyth QC abused a number of pupils at Winchester College in the 1970s and 80s.
Smyth chaired the Christian charity, the Iwerne Trust from 1974 to 1982 - which ran religious holiday camps.
An independent review has concluded the abuse was covered up within the Church of England for years.
Smyth died aged 75 in South Africa in 2018.
The school said it apologises unreservedly for its part in their terrible experiences.
Justin Welby said he's "deeply sorry" the abuse happened and checks and balances have since been introduced to ensure the same couldn't happen today.
Speaking to Channel 4 News on Thursday, Mr Welby said: “I have been giving that (resigning) a lot of thought for actually quite a long time, there is nothing over the last ten years that has been as horrible as dealing with numerous abuse cases.
“I have given it (resigning) a lot of thought and have taken advice as recently as this morning from senior colleagues, and, no, I am not going to resign.”
Asked if he considered resigning on Thursday morning, Mr Welby said “yes”.
Smyth, called an “appalling abuser of children and young men” in the review, abused as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa over five decades.
He is said to have subjected his victims to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks.
Mr Welby also said he donated money to Smyth on missions in Zimbabwe.
Smyth was able to move to Africa from England while “church officers knew of the abuse and failed to take the steps necessary to prevent further abuse occurring”, the report said.
Mr Welby told Channel 4 News: “Lots of people funded his mission out there (in Zimbabwe). I think on two separate occasions I gave £40 or £50.”
Mark Stibbe, a survivor of Smyth’s abuse, said the abuse had been covered up by people “at the highest level of the Church of England”.
“It is very distressing,” he said.
Despite Smyth’s actions having been identified in the 1980s, the report concluded he was never fully exposed and was therefore able to continue his abuse.
The Church has said it is “deeply sorry for the horrific abuse” and added that “there is never a place for covering up abuse”.
The report said while Mr Welby knew Smyth and “did have reason to have some concern about him”, this was not the same as suspecting he had committed severe abuses and concluded it was “not possible to establish” whether Mr Welby knew of the severity of the abuses in the UK before 2013.
Smyth “could and should have been formally reported to the police in the UK, and to authorities in South Africa (church authorities and potentially the police) by church officers, including a diocesan bishop and Justin Welby in 2013″, the review said.
It said “had that been done, on the balance of probabilities” Smyth could have been brought to justice “at a much earlier point” than the Hampshire Police investigation in early 2017.
The review, commissioned a year after Smyth’s death by the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, added: “Opportunities to establish whether he continued to pose an abusive threat in South Africa were missed because of these inactions by senior church officers.”
In a statement, Mr Welby said he was “deeply sorry that this abuse happened” and “sorry that concealment by many people who were fully aware of the abuse over many years meant that John Smyth was able to abuse overseas and died before he ever faced justice”.
He added: “I had no idea or suspicion of this abuse before 2013.
“Nevertheless the review is clear that I personally failed to ensure that after disclosure in 2013 the awful tragedy was energetically investigated.
“Since that time the way in which the Church of England engages with victims and survivors has changed beyond recognition. Checks and balances introduced seek to ensure that the same could not happen today.”
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According to the report, some 30 boys and young men are known to have been directly physically and psychologically abused in the UK, and about 85 boys and young men physically abused in African countries, including Zimbabwe, and the total “likely runs much higher”.
The review found that an argument had been made that the abuses were “examples of over-enthusiastic corporal punishment”.
But the report said: “The conclusion of the review is that he committed criminal acts of gross abuse.
“Further abuse could and should have been prevented. John Smyth’s victims were not sufficiently supported by the church and their views on escalating his abuse to the police and other authorities were not sought.”
In a joint statement, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, Joanne Grenfell, and the national director of safeguarding, Alexander Kubeyinje, said they are “deeply sorry for the horrific abuse” and its “lifelong effects”.
They welcomed the report’s 27 recommendations and said they would “consider them now in detail, noting work already under way”.
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