Church of England sex abuse victim urges Archbishop of Canterbury to resign: ‘Do right thing now’

Church of England sex abuse victim urges Archbishop of Canterbury: 'Do the right thing'Source: Channel 4 News

Transcript

00:00I think that the Archbishop should resign because he didn't do the right thing.

00:07My father brought me up to believe that there's never ever anything to fear in doing the right thing.

00:14Now Justin Welby in 2013 became aware of the full extent of Smythe's abuses of us,

00:23not just boys in the UK like myself, but boys in Africa as well, in Zimbabwe and in South Africa.

00:32And I think that he didn't do the right thing.

00:36He and the Bishop of Ely should have made sure that these abuses were properly reported to the authorities,

00:43but he admits, and this is covered off in the review,

00:47that he failed to act properly and rigorously and responsibly between 2013 and 2017 until you reported on these abuses.

00:58I don't think he did the right thing.

01:00Now why does this matter?

01:02It matters because my fellow survivors, every single day whilst this was not being dealt with, was a further day of torment.

01:12In one case, my best friend at school tried to commit suicide because of Smythe's abuses in 1982 in February,

01:21but then again at Christmas, on Christmas Day in fact, 2013, he got very close to doing the same thing again.

01:30And if this thing had been properly reported and dealt with in the middle of 2013,

01:36and the Diocese of Ely and the newly installed Archbishop of Canterbury knew the full extent of this suffering,

01:42maybe this would have been prevented, this attempt would not have had to happen.

01:48And I think there is a case to be made, a strong case to be made,

01:53and I don't know any Smythe survivor who doesn't believe that it should be made,

01:59that he should do the right thing now, which is to resign.