Welby resigns after report into child abuser associated with Church

Last week’s report concluded that Smyth “could and should” have been reported to the police in 2013, when Church leaders including Welby were presented with details of his abuse.

Inaction from the Church represented a “missed opportunity to bring him to justice,” the report says.

The archbishop had been facing mounting pressure to resign after the report was published.

Three members of the Church’s parliament, the General Synod, had accused the archbishop of “allowing abuse to continue” between 2013 and Smyth’s death in 2018.

They launched a petition calling for Mr Welby’s resignation, which had been signed by more than 13,000 people by Tuesday afternoon.

The Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, told the BBC on Monday that Mr Welby’s position was “untenable” after the report.

She said: “I think rightly people are asking the question: ‘Can we really trust the Church of England to keep us safe?’ And I think the answer at the moment is ‘no’.”