UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today
James Macintyre 05 July 2017
A survivor of alleged historical sexual abuse in the Church of England has complained that he has received no direct reply after writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for the thirteenth time.
Archbishop Welby met the survivor last year and the Church of England, which is conducting an internal review into its handling of his case, has put him in regular contact with its National Safeguarding Team (NST).
The survivor, who has been known in media reports as ‘Michael’, was allegedly the victim while a teenager of abuse three decades ago by a retired vicar who was found to have committed suicide last month after he failed to attend court. The body of Trevor Devamanikkam, 70, was found by police when they went to his home in Witney, Oxfordshire, to arrest him.
Devamanikkam had been due to appear before Bradford and Keighley magistrates charged with three counts of buggery and three counts of indecent assault in the 1980s. The charges were brought under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and related to a time when the homosexual age of consent was 21.
Last year, Michael, whose has now waived his anonymity and whose real name is Matt Ineson, lodged complaints of misconduct against the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, and four serving bishops, claiming that they had failed to act on his disclosures of rape.
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