Victims have taken to Twitter to express their anger over the way they have been treated by John Smyth and Winchester College following the publication of a report into the violent late abuser’s activities there.
Following a 197-page inquiry into the activities of Smyth, Winchester, the elite independent school, apologised ‘unreservedly’ for its part in the ‘terrible experiences’ of John Smyth’s victims. In a statement, it said: ‘The review … demonstrates in particular that John Smyth QC was able to infiltrate the College’s Christian community and gain access to the college’s pupils, providing him with the opportunity to groom and then abuse them.’
But, online, survivors and victims criticised the time it has taken to obtain any sort of acknowledgement and justice. One Tweet said: ‘The abuse was far, far worse than any of us realised’, with as many as 22 of Smyth’s victims at Winchester. Another said it was ‘staggering that the reputation of Iwerne camps was put ahead of the truth’. Another noted that ‘still the CofE has not suspended one person involved in the cover up. Not one’. Another Tweet said: ‘I am still waiting for Archbishop Justin to tell us what he did about stopping John Smyth continuing his criminal abuse in Africa. I have been waiting NINE YEARS.’
The report found that Smyth had ‘unfettered access’ to the College. ‘Multiple staff members, including the headmaster, were aware that Smyth was in close contact with boys in the Christian Forum and that he had a powerful influence over them’. However, ‘levels of supervision … were not sufficient to prevent or detect the physical or sexual abuse which Smyth perpetrated against pupils.’
In 2017, Andrew Watson, a former Winchester College pupil who is now the Bishop of Guildford, said he had been subjected to a ‘violent, excruciating and shocking’ beating by Smyth in his garden shed. The reviewers said they were aware of 13 former Winchester College pupils who were abused by Smyth, but it was ‘likely there were other victims’.
