Serial Sexual Abuse of Schoolboys by Senior UK Barrister

PeterRS · August 22, 2021

John Smyth was a British barrister and Queen's Counsel, an office conferred only on senior barristers by the Crown. A moral crusader and staunch believer in the Anglican Church of England, Smyth fought legal battles for "Christian values" in Britain's courts of law. He acted for Mary Whitehouse, a Christian morality crusader, in her 1977 action against Gay News for its publication of James Kirkup's poem The Love that Dares not Speak its Name. As we have heard before, those who are publicly among the most ardent adherents of their faith are sometimes those who use it for ulterior sexual and other series motives. A new book Bleeding for Jesus: John Smyth and the Cult of Iwerne Camps by Andrew Graystone highlights a life of serial sadistic abuse inflicted by Smyth mostly on young men studying at Britain's elite private schools, most coming from the prestigious Winchester College.

Smyth encouraged male pupils from elite schools to come to his home. He had first started his disgusting activities around 1970 after meeting young students attending sessions of the Scripture Union. Once there, they would be stripped naked and viciously beaten. Thereafter they would be kissed, stroked and fondled as if to contrast with the brutality and trauma of the beating they had just experienced. One boy, Andy Morse was given a "special beating" to mark his 21st birthday. After thousands of lashes and beatings over 5 years, he attempted suicide.

A Report not compiled until 2017, over 30 years after the first formal allegations about Smyth's abuses were made, claims that three officials of the Scripture Union were aware of the allegations but did nothing about them. This report states that the abuse by Smyth was extreme and physical with "clear and continuous sexual framing."

Soon Smyth had started up a Trust. The objective of the Iwerne Trust was to run holiday camps which would recruit and develop the brightest and the best from elite backgrounds as Christians who would go on to become dominant leaders in the Church. According to Graystone "the Iwerne project, in line with most cults, relied on three pillars: conversion, conditioning and coercion. Recruits had to 'declare total allegiance to Jesus' follow certain codes and practices, and observe 'sexual purity'. He said it was 'highly exclusive – this was not a movement for the poor. It accrued huge amounts of power, influence and wealth.'"

Perhaps surprisingly given the abuse suffered by almost all the pupils, the Trust had no small measure of success. Some of its "graduates" became among the most prominent conservative evangelical leaders in the Church of England over 40 years. Smyth was Chairman of the Trust Board but rarely took other members seriously. He did what he wished. One victim was the late David Sheppard who went on to play cricket for England before becoming Bishop of Liverpool. Another was the present Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson, who described his beatings as "violent, excruciating and shocking." The present Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, worked for the Trust briefly in the late 1970s. Earlier this year Welby made "a full personal apology" to Smyth’s victims, saying: “I am sorry this was done in the name of Jesus Christ by a perverted version of spirituality and evangelicalism. I continue to hear new details of the abuse and my sorrow, shock and horror grows.”

Eventually Smyth's activities became known to the headteacher of Winchester College. Instead of contacting the police, Smyth was informed that he must never in future have any contact with the College and its pupils.

As the author points out, Smyth was effectively "the Church of England's Jimmy Savile . . . we learned from Savile that abusers can only abuse in a culture that enables it." For those not aware of the Savile scandal, Sir Jimmy Savile had been a pop singer, radio and television host and one of the most popular entertainers in the UK. He was also big on philanthropy. Hospitals for the mentally disabled were one of his pet charities. One even gave him a room for his permanent use whenever he visited the hospital. Soon after his death, rumours began to surface that Savile was not the kindly man everyone assumed him to be, He was unmasked as one of the UK's most serious sexual abusers with over 450 victims (those that are known) ranging from young girls and boys to adults. His knighthood was quickly withdrawn. That no one was aware of his abuse is hardly credible. Some people certainly knew but kept it quiet.

After a secret Report in 1982 described his "horrific" beatings of teenage boys, Smyth saw the writing on the wall and moved to Zimbabwe. Again he started up camps and again he was accused of serial abuse of young boys. In 1992 he was arrested in connection with the murder of a 16-year old boy, but was acquitted. He then moved to South Africa.

Extraordinarily, Smyth's activités were not brought officially to the attention of the Church of England until 2012/13. The CoE then wrote to the Church in South Africa to warn them about Smyth and his abuse of boys. The text of that letter has never been published. Indeed, it is not known if it was in fact sent. In South Africa he campaigned against gay marriage. He also ran the Justice Alliance of South Africa (JASA) for some years. JASA describes itself as "a coalition of corporations‚ individuals and churches committed to upholding and fighting for justice and the highest moral standards in South African society." In February 2017 the Board asked him to stand down. No reason has ever been given.

This sadomasochistic abuser of schoolboys died in South Africa in August 2018, allegedly of a heart attack. In England, the name of his iwerne Trust was changed to The Titus Trust. Little seems to have changed, though. At the top of the first page of its internet site there is the statement, "Providing Christian activity holidays for children and young people at independent schools." The CoE has very belatedly commissioned an independent report on Smyth's abuses. But with many of Smyth's victims now in a position of power within the Church, publication of the alleged independent Report on Smyth has already been delayed by a year. Will it ever appear?

Bleeding for Jesus" John Smyth and the Cult of Iwerne Camps by Andrew Graystone is published in the UK on September 2

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/21/bleeding-for-jesus-book-tells-story-of-qc-who-pitilessly-abused-young-men