LONDON (UNITED KINGDOM)
Premier Christian News [Crowborough, England]
December 8, 2025
By Donna Birrell
Former clergy, senior legal figures and safeguarding professionals have told Premier Christian News that, despite the Church of England’s repeated claims to have learned from past safeguarding failures, many survivors who come forward continue to be re-traumatised by the way their cases are handled.
In one case, a former child protection lawyer described the treatment of a man who raised a complaint about the Diocese of London’s handling of his abuse allegations as “the worst example of post-abuse victimisation of a CDM complainant we have ever seen”.
The man, referred to by Premier as Survivor N, told us exclusively that the response and lack of investigation from the Diocese of London and Archbishop of Canterbury-elect Dame Sarah Mullally left him in such a severe mental health crisis that he attempted to take his own life twice.
A former employee of the Diocese of London, who also asked to remain anonymous and whom we are calling Victoria, told Premier she too was driven to an attempt on her life after raising concerns about what she described as a “toxic” culture and the mishandling of safeguarding allegations by the Church’s senior leadership. She said she was subsequently left isolated and excluded.
The case of Survivor N
Survivor N’s case began more than a decade ago when he first reported accusations of abuse against a priest in the Diocese of London.
Premier has seen evidence that when he filed a complaint against the accused priest, Rt Rev Sarah Mullally as Bishop of London, contravened the Clergy Discipline Measure code of practice by sending a confidential email about the allegations directly to the priest concerned, outside of the CDM process. She also wrote to him that the claims were “unsubstantiated”.
Survivor N says he was then subjected to what he describes as a “systematic campaign of harassment and retribution as a CDM complainant”.
He later filed a formal complaint against Bishop Mullally for her handling of the case. In March 2020, in a letter seen by Premier, the then Bishop at Lambeth acknowledged receipt of the complaint. But 16 months later, when his lawyers requested an update, the same Bishop at Lambeth stated that the complaint had only just been received by Lambeth Palace.
A senior psychiatrist told Premier that during those 16 months, Survivor N’s mental health deteriorated sharply.
To this day, despite repeated requests from his solicitors, Survivor N says he has not received a formal response.
“All of this reminded me how little my life is worth, how meagre my human value, in the face of the cartel of Establishment,” he said. “It felt like apartheid. The injustice and dehumanising collusion felt overwhelming to the point that life wasn’t worth living.”
The Diocese of London told Premier that there had been contact between N and the London Safeguarding Team for a number of years, dating back to 2014. N was subject to a restraint order prohibiting him from publishing information about the alleged abuse. He told Premier that he accepts he has sometimes been “intemperate, blunt and angry” in his outspokenness.
“Mea culpa for my lack of Christ-like forbearance,” he said. “For decades, every time I write or speak, I have experienced how the Diocese of London and Lambeth Palace bureaucrats have used a combination of institutional harassment and a restraint order to silence me.”
A spokesperson for the Diocese of London’s communications consultancy, Luther Pendragon, said the claims had been examined, that proper processes were followed, and that there is no outstanding CDM complaint against Sarah Mullally. Both Luther Pendragon and Lambeth Palace told Premier that Survivor N is welcome to resubmit his complaint.
Concerns from within the Church
The Church of England says its response to survivors has improved in recent years and that lessons from the past have been learned. But Victoria, who has a long career in safeguarding, told Premier that what she witnessed while working in the Diocese of London up until this year was “worrying”, and described a “wall of silence when there’s concerns raised”.
Gilo, who was abused by a clergyman spent years trying to alert church leaders, with little action taken. His experience prompted the Elliott Review in 2016, which condemned Church safeguarding processes as “fundamentally flawed”. Bishop Sarah, while still Bishop of Crediton, was mandated to respond to the review.
Gilo told Premier: “I think the response initially seemed on paper quite good, but then following that, I know that I urged and pleaded with Sarah Mullally in Exeter before she went to London to address the lies that were being repeated about the review and I was shooed away. I felt very betrayed and let down by her.”
Bishop Sarah apologised for the failings in his case, acknowledging progress had been made but saying the Church has a lot to learn and “needs to do it quickly”.
Premier has also learned that clergy in the Diocese of London have expressed concern about the way safeguarding complaints are managed. One former vicar told us he developed PTSD because of how he was treated after raising concerns.
Victoria said that when she escalated such issues, she was isolated and excluded. “I was framed as a troublemaker, framed as a hysterical woman, and it made me very ill,” she said. “Everything was being turned on someone who raised their voice. A very disappointing response from female senior leaders as well.”
Concerns around Luther Pendragon’s involvement
Victoria also raised concerns about the involvement of communications firm Luther Pendragon in safeguarding matters, particularly around “managing reputational risk”.
Although the firm told Premier its representatives do not attend meetings with survivors, Victoria said: “They are invited to every single safeguarding case management group. They don’t always attend but there’s always a holding statement written in advance.”
Survivor advocate Lucy Duckworth told Premier: “A survivor who has got mental health issues from the continual ignoring, betraying and gaslighting from that institution is not going to have the emotional or financial resources to fight PR companies and lawyers. We cannot go forward if people as high up as the archbishop are not engaging in this conversation.”
Calls for accountability
Survivor advocates say meaningful accountability is essential if the Church is to improve its handling of safeguarding.
“That’s the Church of England’s favourite refrain, ‘lessons learned’,” Victoria said. “But what lessons have been learned? And you know victims, survivors and clergy are still suffering. People have tried to take their own life. What? What else needs to happen before changes are made?”
In a statement, the Church of England told Premier that clergy have “a legal and canonical duty to respond to all safeguarding concerns” and that both professional and pastoral support is provided to clergy who raise concerns. It said survivors of church-related abuse receive “a bespoke trauma-informed support package”.
The Church said it has made “a lot of change” since 2018, including implementing five national safeguarding standards, progressing IICSA recommendations, undertaking external audits, and strengthening survivor support through an independent service and participation framework.
All allegations made against the Diocese of London and Sarah Mullally in this article were put to the Diocese of London . Its communications team Luther Pendragon assisted Premier but did not provide a statement in response.
Anyone affected by this article can contact the independent support service Safe Spaces on 0300 303 1056 or Premier Lifeline on 0300 111 0101.