July 2014

Diocese of Chichester
July 8, 2014

http://www.chichester.anglican.org/media/documents/document/2014/07/Carmi_Report.pdf

[full text]

This report was completed in 2004. It refers to a period of time in the history of Chichester Cathedral and the Diocese of Chichester from the 1970s until 2000, when a serial child sex offender was able to use church networks to gain the trust of children and parents and commit sexual offences. This offender was convicted of these offences in 2001 and sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment, after a lengthy and thorough investigation by Sussex Police.

Today, as we publish this report, first and foremost our thoughts are with the survivors and their families. The effects of abuse can last a lifetime, and the passing of the years may or may not have brought any kind of healing. It is our sincere hope that those affected by these crimes have found a measure of peace over time. Directly following this offender’s conviction, a number of senior clergy expressed their profound sorrow for the victims’ suffering. Now, in 2014, we wish to join our voices with theirs: as Christians we are profoundly ashamed of abuse that has happened in church or church institutions. We extend our most sincere apologies to survivors and their families, though we know that this can never repair the damage done.

Following the trial, the former Bishop of Chichester, the Rt Rev’d Dr John Hind, commissioned an independent author, Edi Carmi, to provide him with a report. Edi Carmi worked with a multi-agency steering group that was chaired independently by His Honour Judge Peter Collier QC. This process was designed to replicate the standard of Serious Case Reviews at the time, as defined in the government guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children 1999. It was received by the Bishop of Chichester in 2004, and the recommendations were invaluable in informing practice in the Cathedral and across the Diocese. This report marked the beginning of a crucial process of self-reflection and learning that continued with the published reports by Roger Meekings, Baroness Butler-Sloss and of the Archiepiscopal Visitation. The learning gained from this process of rigorous scrutiny informs every aspect of our safeguarding practice today, which has moved on enormously since 2004.

At the time this report was received, Serious Case Reviews were not published in their entirety. Our decision to publish this report now has been informed by a number of factors, the most important of which has been our interaction with victims of sexual abuse in churches, who have consistently asked for the full facts to be brought to light, so that lessons are learned and everything possible is done to ensure these awful events are not repeated. Sexual offenders operate in the shadows of our communities and exploit any weaknesses in culture and process that exist, as has been shown many times recently in cases across the country in a number of different institutions. Reports such as this illuminate those weaknesses and the ways offenders use them, in the hope that future practice is improved and children are better protected. It is for this reason we are publishing this report today.