John Smyth QC: Decades of abuse covered up by church, report says

Reports of Smyth’s physical abuse of 22 boys were revealed in an investigation by Channel 4 News, external, in February 2017.

The investigation came after a report by the Iwerne Trust in 1982, which was not made public until 2016.

It found Smyth identified pupils from leading public schools like Winchester College and took them to his home near Winchester in Hampshire, where he carried out lashings with a garden cane in his shed.

It said eight of the boys received a total of 14,000 lashes, while two more received 8,000 strokes between them over three years.

The Iwerne Trust called the practice “horrific” but the claims were not reported to police until 2013 – more than 30 years later.

In 1982, Smyth was confronted about his conduct after the Iwerne Trust compiled a secret report, written by the Rev Mark Ruston and Rev David Fletcher.

He was encouraged to leave the country and moved to Zimbabwe without any referral being made to police.

In Zimbabwe he was charged with the manslaughter of a 16-year-old boy, who was attending one of his summer camps. Smyth was not convicted of the offence.