LONDON (UNITED KINGDOM)
Premier Christian News [Crowborough, England]
November 24, 2024
By Donna Birrell
Lawyers who have for years supported survivors of church-related abuse are calling for an external independent review to examine the Church of England’s conduct in the case of a convicted sex offender who was allowed to continue working at Liverpool Cathedral.
Former vicar Canon John Roberts who is 89, was jailed in 2020 for nine counts of indecent and sexual assault committed against three victims in the 1980s, 2000s and 2010s. He was also ordered to sign onto the Sex Offenders Register for life.
The victims came forward in 2018 to say Roberts had abused them – one had been sexually assaulted as a boy in the 1980s by Roberts while he worked as a vicar in the Woolton area, one was a child in the early 2000s, and one was in adult in the 2010s.
Following publicity around his case, another male came forward to report he too had been victim of Roberts when he was aged 10-13 in the 1970s – and Roberts was jailed for a further three years in June this year.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Most Rev Justin Welby who was Dean of Liverpool Cathedral in 2007 is now facing fresh criticism over an “egregious failure” to act in the case. He allowed Roberts to continue officiating despite being told he had been convicted of sex offences in 1989.
The archbishop reportedly told Canon Roberts he could continue to practise but to make sure he was not alone with parishioners, saying: “For obvious reasons you are more vulnerable to unfounded accusation [sic] than others.”
In 2019 Archbishop Welby told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) that: “With the benefit of hindsight… I would not have permitted [Roberts] to be on my staff”.
Archbishop Welby has apologised and said he regrets his handling of the incident, but claims that he did not have all the information.
Richard Scorer, the head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon and David Greenwood from Switalskis Solicitors both acted for victims of Roberts. Scorer said: “At the very least Justin Welby appears to have exhibited the same lack of curiosity and concern which we saw recently revealed in the Smyth case”. He added that the Roberts case was “one of the most egregious failures that I’ve seen.”
Greenwood said: “This scandal is a mirror image of previous cases in which bishops have protected convicted clergy and reintroduced them into risky positions, failing to heed the abuser’s previous behaviours.”
A statement from Lambeth Palace said: “The assaults carried out by John Roberts were an appalling breach of trust and have damaged the lives of his victims and the survivors. The Church must always be accountable and learn lessons from its handling of these cases.
“The Archbishop has publicly apologised to survivors of abuse at the Church’s IICSA hearing – and he repeated this apology at the trial of John Roberts. While he followed the cathedral process that was in place at the time, he regrets the handling of the specific complaint while he was Dean of Liverpool.
“As he explained at the IICSA hearing, the complainant was threatening towards several members of cathedral staff, which affected his judgement and handling. He has apologised for his response, and has said publicly that had he known the full detail of John Roberts’ 1989 conviction, he would have handled it differently. At no stage did he conceal information.”