The Titus Trust has denied ‘any cover-up on our part’ of the abuse carried out by serial abuser John Smyth at Iwerne Trust holiday camps in the 1970s and 1980s.
The denial came in a statement and timeline produced by the Titus Trust’s trustees – shortly before the publication of the controversial new book Bleeding for Jesus: John Smyth and the cult of the Iwerne Camps, by Andrew Graystone, which is reviewed by en here. He describes the former QC, who died in 2018, as ‘The Church of England’s Jimmy Savile’.
In its statement, the Titus Trust says it ‘failed to show our concern for the victims and survivors of John Smyth’s abuse. The welfare of every victim and survivor should always have been our main priority … We are profoundly sorry for the additional pain that we caused for a number of these men. … We have not always displayed all the Christian love and compassion that should be expected of an organisation committed to making the Christian gospel known’.
Twenty-two young men had made allegations against Smyth, a barrister and former chair of the Iwerne Trust, on whose camps he was a volunteer leader. One victim said they were left ‘bleeding for three and a half weeks’ while another ‘fainted sometime after a severe beating’ and a third ‘could feel the blood spattering down my legs’.
After the report’s publication, one survivor said it demonstrated ‘a catalogue of delays and partial disclosures. Titus are keen to refute the allegations of a cover-up, but any layman would describe this whole timeline as part of a cover-up.’
Another survivor, Andy Morse, said: ‘Thank you, Titus Trust trustees for including me in the conversation about your Smyth timeline and for publishing it today. Some of the content is challenging to process, but I do feel helped and less isolated. Which has been my hope for many, many years.’
Earlier, he had previously Tweeted: ‘Recently, I’ve seen verified, credible evidence that James Stileman and the Titus Trust trustees reported the Smyth abuse appropriately and correctly in 2014 to both The Met and Hampshire Police. I apologise for earlier, misinformed Tweets and ask both police forces to explain themselves.’
The Iwerne Trust was wound up and its assets passed to the Titus Trust in 1997. The Church of England has ordered an independent review of its handling of allegations of abuse by Smyth, although publication has been delayed until 2022.
