Former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey among those facing discipline after safeguarding review

[Church of England] The National Safeguarding Team has today announced the conclusion of the work to review all clergy under the authority or oversight of the Church of England who are criticized in the Makin review, published in November. The review was commissioned to look at the church’s handling of the allegations of the horrendous abuse by the late John Smyth.

This has been a rigorous and independent process to look at whether those named present any immediate risk and consider whether there is a case for disciplinary proceedings for clergy, under the Clergy Discipline Measure. This has been undertaken in line with the process announced in December with recommendations of an independent panel and reviewed by an independent barrister.

Following this, the National Safeguarding Team will now seek to bring disciplinary proceedings under the Clergy Discipline Measure against the following:

• Bishop Paul Butler, former bishop of Durham
• Bishop George Carey, former archbishop of Canterbury
• The Rev. Roger Combes
• The Rev. Sue Colman
• The Rev. Andrew Cornes
• The Rev. Tim Hastie-Smith
• The Rev. Hugh Palmer
• The Rev. Paul Perkin
• The Rev. Nick Stott
• The Rev. John Woolmer

In all cases, the CDM will be “out of time” and so the permission of the president of the tribunals will need to be sought to bring such cases. This will be done by the National Director of Safeguarding, Alexander Kubeyinje.

In reaching its conclusions, the Stage 3 panel has considered the safeguarding policies and guidance which were in force at the relevant time, the facts of the particular case, the relevant legal considerations and whether there is sufficient evidence to justify proceedings. The conclusions at Stage 3 were validated by the independent barrister at Stage 4 in the external scrutiny process,

In respect of all those under the authority or oversight of the Church of England not listed here but criticized in the Makin Review, the process has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to meet the threshold for instituting disciplinary proceedings at this time. There are two priests criticized in the report whose actions have not yet been reviewed as they are subject to other live, ongoing, processes. Once these have concluded, they will be reviewed following the 4-stage process.

Victims and survivors and all those criticized in the Makin review have been informed and support offered.

Alexander Kubeyinje, the Church of England’s National Director of Safeguarding, said, “We must not forget that at heart of this case are the survivors and victims who have endured the lifelong effects of the appalling abuse by John Smyth, we are truly sorry. Today we have announced next steps in the process looking at both risk and disciplinary processes. We know this will never undo the harm caused but the Church is committed to taking very seriously its response to the findings of the review as well as responding to its recommendations.”

The National Safeguarding Team can make no further comment on these cases while the CDM proceedings are under way.