CANTERBURY (UNITED KINGDOM)
The Living Church [Milwaukee WI]
December 11, 2025
Bishop Sarah Mullally, who will soon be seated as Archbishop of Canterbury, is accused of mishandling a safeguarding complaint against a priest of the Diocese of London in 2019, Lambeth Palace officials said on December 11.
The Lambeth statement followed a report by Donna Birrell of Premier Christian News about a few different cases of abuse complaints, demoralized complainants, and suicide attempts in the Diocese of London during Mullally’s episcopate.
The central focus of the report is on a man designated as N by Premier that more than a decade ago, he filed abuse charges 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.’”
Birrell added: “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.”
The Clergy Discipline Measure requires that the Archbishop of Canterbury oversee complaints against bishops of the Province of Canterbury. The Bishop at Lambeth is the archbishop’s chief of staff and senior aide.
N’s mental health has suffered since he first filed the abuse charge, and he has attempted suicide twice.
“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 former child-protection lawyer, whom Premier did not name, said the Diocese of London’s “handling of his abuse allegations as ‘the worst example of post-abuse victimization of a CDM complainant we have ever seen.”
Bishop Mullally’s response differs from N’s description in its details, but she expressed concern about his apparent treatment.
“N has been let down by the processes of the Church of England,” she said in a message appended to the December 11 Lambeth Palace statement. “While his abuse allegations against a member of clergy were fully dealt with by the Diocese of London, it is clear that a different complaint he subsequently made against me personally in 2020 was not properly dealt with.
“I am seeking assurance that processes have been strengthened to ensure any complaint that comes into Lambeth Palace is responded to in a timely and satisfactory manner.”
Officials at Lambeth Palace said about N’s complaint against Bishop Mullally: “Due to administrative errors and an incorrect assumption about the individual’s wishes, the complaint was not taken forward or appropriately followed up. The Bishop of London was unaware of the matter, as the process never reached the stage at which she would have been informed of the complaint or its contents.
“The provincial registrar has apologised to those involved and urgent arrangements are now being made for the complaint to be considered according to the relevant statutory process.”
Premier’s story reports on other people who have attempted suicide amid accusations of sexual abuse. Another such person is a former employee of the Diocese of London, whom Premier identified by the name Victoria.
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.”
Premier added about Victoria’s claims: “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 [she] described a ‘wall of silence when there’s concerns raised.’”
Victoria expressed skepticism when church leaders speak of “lessons learned” from mishandled abuse cases.
“That’s the Church of England’s favourite refrain, ‘lessons learned,’” she told Premier. “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?”
Premier also writes about a man named Gilo.
“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.”
Premier’s report does not include it, but one priest in the Diocese of London (who was reordained as a Roman Catholic priest) not only attempted suicide but hanged himself amid false reports that he engaged in sex with “rent boys,” meaning male prostitutes.
The Rev. Alan Griffin’s case led to still another investigation, resulting in a “Learning Lessons Review.”
In spite of there being no evidence of wrongdoing, unspecified allegations against Fr. Griffin were investigated by both the diocese of London and the Roman Catholic Church for over a year,” Sarah Meyrick wrote in Church Times. “Confidential information about his HIV status was also passed on without his consent.
“The information passed regarding Fr. Alan had a significant impact on him,” the report said. “The disclosures were uncorroborated, remained untested and did not amount to allegations of wrongdoing. The way in which the information was assessed and acted upon was disproportionate and opportunities to challenge and take responsibility for the investigation were missed at a senior leadership level.”
Meyrick reported that Bishop Mullally “apologised unreservedly” in Griffin’s case.