C of E Bishop: I Was Given "Excruciating" Beating by John Smyth
By Harriet Sherwood
A serving Church of England bishop has alleged that he was subjected to a “violent, excruciating and shocking” beating by John Smyth, the man at the centre of abuse allegations connected to summer camps for Christian youth. Andrew Watson, the bishop of Guildford, claims he was beaten on a single occasion. He said he had contacted Hampshire police, the force investigating allegations made against Smyth, at the weekend. Watson said in a statement: “I am one of the survivors of John Smyth’s appalling activities in the late 1970s and early 80s. I am also one of the bishops in the Church of England. This has placed me in a unique and challenging position when it comes to the events of the past few days. “My own story is certainly less traumatic than that of some others. I was drawn into the Smyth circle, as they were, and the beating I endured in the infamous garden shed was violent, excruciating and shocking; but it was thankfully a one-off experience never to be repeated.”
A number of the beatings alleged to have been administered by Smyth are said to have taken place in the garden shed at his home in Winchester, Hampshire. Watson attended Winchester College, where Smyth is said to have met a number of his alleged victims. Watson, 55, said a friend of his had attempted suicide on the eve of an alleged beating. “At that point I and a friend shared our story,” the bishop said, although he is not thought to have contacted police at the time. He added: “My profoundest prayers are with all those affected by this, and my heartfelt desire is that lessons might be learnt so this never happens again. I am grateful to the archbishop of Canterbury for his apology to survivors on behalf of the church, and don’t begin to believe that he knew anything of Smyth’s violent activities until his office was informed in 2013.” The bishop said survivors of the alleged beatings should not be “used as pawns in some political or religious game. Abusers espouse all theologies and none; and absolutely nothing that happened in the Smyth shed was the natural fruit of any Christian theology that I’ve come across before or since. It was abuse perpetrated by a misguided, manipulative and dangerous man, tragically playing on the longing of his young victims to live godly lives.” Channel 4 News reported allegations of beatings by Smyth, a former QC who now lives in South Africa, last week. The allegations first came to light in 1981, but neither the Iwerne Trust, which organised the summer camps, nor Winchester College, a leading public school, some of whose pupils were allegedly beaten by Smyth, informed the police. A secret report into the physical abuse allegations was carried out by the Iwerne Trust, which has since wound up, in 1982. Winchester College also conducted an inquiry, and told Smyth never to enter school premises or contact pupils again. The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, attended the camps as a dormitory officer around the time of the alleged beatings, and knew Smyth, but in a statement last week Lambeth Palace said “no one discussed allegations of abuse by John Smyth with him”. Welby also issued an “unreserved and unequivocal” apology on behalf of the Church of England, admitting it had “failed terribly” to tackle institutional abuse. A survivor came forward to the Church of England in 2013, which informed the police, but no action was taken for three years. Hampshire police are now investigating the allegations that Smyth was responsible for the sadomasochistic abuse of teenage boys in the 1970s and 1980s. The police appealed for anyone with information to come forward. The failure to prosecute Smyth in the early 1980s allowed him to start afresh in Zimbabwe. But while in Zimbabwe he was the subject of fresh allegations of physical abuse by boys in his care. A number of people who attended Iwerne Trust summer camps went on to become prominent figures, including bishops, in the Church of England. Watson has been bishop of Guildford since 2015. He was previously bishop of Aston. He was ordained in 1987.
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