THIS has been a long 12-year battle for the truth and accountability. It has taken that long for the C of E to confront the horror of the abuse, described as the worst in the history of the C of E. And in all that period, until this week, not one person had been held to account.

[The Archbishop of Canterbury] brought this upon himself. The refusal to meet [survivors], the “inaccurate assertions” (as Keith Makin describes his untruths), and the attempts to distance himself from Smyth have made Welby the lightning rod for our anger. If he had grasped this firmly in 2017, this would have played out very differently. If he had grasped this properly in 2013, the suicide attempt on Christmas Day would not have happened, and young men in Cape Town would have escaped abuse.

He has steadfastly refused to meet us: even last week’s announcement was inaccurate. The victims I am close to were offered a single Zoom in 2021. I have never been offered a face-to-face meeting.

It is vital that Welby is not made a scapegoat. Myriad people had some knowledge of the abuse from 1982, and senior, senior people from 2013. The fact that Smyth was not brought to justice should haunt their consciences. Many people are criticised in the Makin review, and they too must be held to account.

It is clear from the Makin review that the NST [National Safeguarding Team of the Church of England), thus far, has only asked if those criticised are a current safeguarding risk. The Church has to decided whether a failure over a disclosure of abuse is a disciplinary offence or not. If so, there should be a raft of CDMs launched on the back of the Makin review. If NST do not launch those, I will.

“Graham” is a survivor of John Smyth’s abuse.