Hampshire minister to step back after abuse scandal report

A Church of England minister has agreed to step back from her duties after a damning review concluded she was aware of a prolific serial abuser.

It found it was likely Reverend Sue Colman, an associate minister in Oakley, Hampshire, and her husband “had significant knowledge” of abuse in the UK and Africa.

They both served as trustees in the Zambesi Trust UK, which was founded by Smyth and supported him when he moved to Zimbabwe in the 1980s, the review said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he will quit his role after the review found he “could and should” have reported John Smyth’s abuse of boys and young men to police in 2013.

Smyth, who died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018, is believed to be the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England.

The review found Smyth identified pupils from leading public schools including Winchester College and took them to his home near Winchester, 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 Diocese of Winchester said in a statement that safeguarding failures “should be treated with the utmost seriousness” and that it was “appalled” by the “sheer extent of the horrific abuse perpetrated by John Smyth”.

The diocese would “reflect on the review’s findings and work with the national safeguarding team to take steps to manage any associated risk,” it said.

Ms Colman and her husband, mustard heir and church volunteer Sir Jamie Colman, have both agreed to step back from their roles, the Oakley with Wootton parish said.

“We cannot imagine the pain and distress John Smyth’s actions have caused for so many. Our hearts are broken at the thought of the lives that have been damaged,” it said in a statement.

“Our prayers are with those who have suffered and for all those caught up in the wake of this terrible situation.”

Ms Colman was made a trustee of the Zambesi Trust UK in 1990 after other trustees had resigned en masse “at their concerns about Smyth and their worry about his continued abusive behaviour”. She resigned about 18 months later.

The review said she told it her resignation was “triggered by what she described as an uneasy feeling about John Smyth and his activities” and that she did not know the extent of Smyth’s abuse in the UK until 2017.

Sir Jamie was the chairman of the Zambesi Trust UK in 1989, the review found, but he did not agree to take part in its evidence gathering phase.

It said it had been unable to “fully ascertain his version of events”.