UNITED KINGDOM
Express
By TOM BATCHELOR
The Methodist Church in Britain has offered an “unreserved apology” for its systemic failure to protect youngsters dating back to the 1950s.
Leading child safety charity NSPCC described the findings as a “horrifying catalogue of abuse”, adding: “A vast number of victims must have endured appalling experiences while the Church refused to listen to their pleas for help.”
Responding to the shocking 100-page report, the Church said it was now committed to introducing safeguards for children.
The investigation, which has taken three years, has led to six police investigations into abuse, with the NSPCC warning that “abuse was still being inflicted in recent years”.
The Church said it was “deeply regrettable” that ministers had “not always listened properly” to those who had suffered abuse.
Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, general secretary of the Methodist Conference, said: “On behalf of the Methodist Church in Britain I want to express an unreserved apology for the failure of its current and earlier processes fully to protect children, young people and adults from physical and sexual abuse inflicted by some ministers in Full Connexion and members of the Methodist Church.
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