Comments follow Justin Welby’s criticism of the BBC over its handling of the Jimmy Savile abuse cases
Survivors of sexual abuse by Church of England figures have accused Justin Welby of “breathtaking hypocrisy” after the Archbishop of Canterbury criticised the BBC for the way it handled abuse by Jimmy Savile.
Welby said the BBC had not shown the same integrity over accusations of child abuse that the Catholic and Anglican churches had.
In a statement, six survivors of abuse by powerful church figures rejected Welby’s comments and said the record of the church and Welby himself was one of “silence, denial and evasion”.
Their statement said: “Speaking from our own bitter experience, we do not recognise Archbishop Welby’s description of the integrity with which the Church of England handles cases of abuse in a church context.
“Far from the ‘rigorous response and self-examination’ he claims, our experience of the church, and specifically the archbishop, is of long years of silence, denial and evasion. The Church of England needs to confront its own darkness in relation to abuse before confronting the darkness of others.”
Matthew Ineson, who was allegedly raped as a teenager by a C of E vicar, said Welby had shown “breathtaking hypocrisy”. The vicar, Trevor Devamanikkam, killed himself the day he was due in court to face charges.
“I know from my own experience, and the experience of others, that safeguarding within the C of E is appalling,” Ineson said. “The church has colluded with the cover-up of abuse and has obstructed justice for those whose lives have been ruined by the actions of its clergy. I have been fighting for five years for the church to recognise its responsibilities and I’m still being met with attempts to bully me into dropping my case.”
Welby was invited to contribute to a series on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme marking the programme’s 60th anniversary and changes in British society over the period.
He said: “I think we are a kinder society, more concerned with our own failures, more willing to be honest where we go wrong in most of our institutions.”
But “there are still dark areas”, he added. When asked which, Welby said: “If I’m really honest, I’d say the BBC is one.
“I haven’t seen the same integrity over the BBC’s failures over Savile as I’ve seen in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Church of England, in other public institutions over abuse.”
The BBC said it did not recognise the accusation against the corporation, and it had acted transparently over Savile.
A spokesperson said: “When the Savile allegations became known we established an independent investigation by a high court judge. In the interests of transparency, this was published in full. We apologised and accepted all the recommendations.
“And while today’s BBC is a different place, we set out very clear actions to ensure the highest possible standards of child safeguarding.”
Senior figures in both the Anglican and Catholic churches have been accused of abuse in recent years, and both have been accused of collusion and cover-up.
An independent review report of the crimes of the former Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, published earlier this year found senior figures in the C of E had colluded with Ball.
Following the report, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey resigned from an honorary position in the diocese of Oxford.
Cardinal George Pell, a powerful Vatican official, has been charged with sexual offences in his native Australia. He denies any wrongdoing.
Survivors of sexual abuse in the Church of England are planning a protest next week at the end of a five-day meeting in Canterbury of Anglican primates from around the world to draw attention to what they call the church’s failure to properly respond to disclosures and prioritise survivors’ needs.
A spokesperson for Lambeth Palace said: “We fully accept the failures of the Church of England in the area of safeguarding.
“Since the archbishop took up his role he has been very clear that the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults should be the highest priority of all parts of the church and was one of the first to call for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
“The church’s national safeguarding team was created in 2015 and there are now robust house of bishops safeguarding policies in place along with independent audits for all dioceses and dedicated training on hearing disclosures for all senior clergy. The archbishop fully supports the church’s commitment to develop a stronger national approach to safeguarding to improve its response to protecting the vulnerable.
“The archbishop believes this level of rigorous response and self-examination needs to extend to all institutions, including the BBC.”
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