Makin Review

The Makin Review (also known as the John Smyth Review) is an independent lessons learnt review into the Church of England's handling of allegations of abuse committed by John Smyth. After protracted delays, it was published in November 2024, and resulted in the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Background

Between the 1930s and 2020, Christian holiday camps were run in the Dorset village of Iwerne Minster. The camps had been founded by Eric Nash, a Church of England clergyman who sought to reach boys at Britain's most prestigious boarding schools with the Christian message.

John Smyth had attended a camp whilst he was at university in the 1960s, and subsequently took a leading role in their organisation. He also gained access to a Christian group at Winchester College, near where he lived.

On 2 February 2017, Channel 4 News broadcast a report from Cathy Newman alleging Smyth had violently assaulted boys and young men in England and Africa. In England, Smyth had contacted the victims through his involvement in Winchester College and the camps, and, after a period of "grooming" that could last several years, subjected them to prolonged beatings with a cane in his garden shed. After Smyth moved to Africa in 1984, he continued to run holiday camps and abuse a large number of victims.

Smyth died of a suspected heart attached on 11 August 2018 at his home in Cape Town.

Commissioning

Although the camps were not an official Church of England activity, many of the organisers and speakers were ordained Church of England clergymen. There were claims that these people had first discovered Smyth's abuse in 1982, covered it up, and facilitated Smyth's move to Africa.

In August 2019, the National Safeguarding Team of the Church of England announced that it had appointed Keith Makin, a former director of social services, to carry out a “lessons-learnt” review of the handling of allegations of abuse against Smyth. The review was planned to start in August 2019 and finish by May 2020. It actually commenced in November 2019, but completion was significantly delayed.

Authors

Keith Makin was described as having an extensive knowledge of and background in safeguarding. He was a Director of Social Services, a Chief Executive of an independent child care company and the Director of a Local Government Improvement Agency. He previously led on a large number of abuse inquiries and reviews for both children and adults.

Makin was assisted by Sarah Lawrence, who was described as having worked at a senior level delivering serious child and adult case reviews where there has been abuse or neglect. Her work had included reviews of non-current cases and ensuring that victim and survivor input was central to the review process. She had also delivered work with services to implement changes to improve responses as a result of findings from reviews.

Publication

In October 2024, the Church of England announced that the review would be published on 13 November 2024.

However, it was actually published on 7 November 2024. It amounted to 253 pages plus 245 pages of appendices. In an interview with Times Radio on 15 November 2024, Cathy Newman stated that the review had been leaked to Channel 4, which prompted the Church to publish it earlier than initially announced.

Publication was reported by many media outlets, including the BBC, Channel 4, The Times, and The Guardian.

Conclusions

The review found that Smyth was, arguably, the most prolific serial abuser to be associated with the Church of England. He abused between 115 and 130 boys and young men, and was active from the mid-1970s until close to his death in 2018.

Aftermath

On the day the review was published, 7 November 2024, Cathy Newman interviewed Justin Welby on Channel 4 News. Welby apologised for the church's failings and indicated that he had considered resigning, but would not be doing so.

On 9 November 2024, a petition was launched on Change.org calling for Welby's resignation. The petition was started by three members of the house of clergy in General Synod: Rev Robert Thompson, Rev Ian Paul, and Rev Marcus Walker. They noted that the Makin Review had concluded that Welby bore responsibility for the failures of the Church of England relating to Smyth. The petition received widespread coverage, including by the BBC, Channel 4, and The Guardian.

On 11 November 2024, Helen-Ann Hartley, the Bishop of Newcastle, also called for the resignation of Justin Welby. She felt that the Church's response to the Makin Review had been disappointing, that its leadership was failing, and that the Archbishop's position was untenable.

Welby announced his resignation on 12 November 2024. His resignation letter referenced the Makin Review and accepted that he needed to take "personal and institutional responsibility" for the failures identified by the review.

Related reviews and publications

Scripture Union commissioned an independent case review into its role in the camps. It published the executive summary in March 2021.

The Titus Trust, the successor to the Iwerne Trust which had financed and effectively run the camps at which Smyth contacted many victims, released a document detailing its role and actions.

Andrew Graystone, a theologian and journalist, wrote a book, Bleeding For Jesus: John Smyth and the cult of the Iwerne Camps, which was published in August 2021.

Winchester College commissioned an independent review into the abuse committed by John Smyth, which was published in January 2022.

Further reading

• Makin, Keith (18 October 2024). Independent Learning Lessons Review John Smyth QC
• Graystone, Andrew (2021). Bleeding for Jesus: John Smyth and the Cult of the Iwerne Camps. Darton, Longman, and Todd. ISBN 978-1913657123.