A former oil executive turned archbishop, it was hoped Justin Welby’s management experience would hold the Church of England together as it navigated the modern world. As the archbishop of Canterbury, he steered a careful path through divisions in the global Anglican church over ordaining women and same-sex marriage. But it was another persistent issue in the church – the mishandling and cover-up of historical sexual abuse scandals – that proved to be his downfall. He was due to retire in January 2026, but a damning report published last week made his position untenable.

John Smyth, a leader of Christian camps attended by people including Welby, used his position to gain power over hundreds of boys. He sadistically beat and tortured at least 130 boys and young men in the UK, Zimbabwe and South Africa over almost 40 years. Some of his victims took their own lives.

A major review found that the Church of England knew about Smyth’s behaviour and did too little to bring him to justice. The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood has been reporting on this scandal for years. She explains how the survivors felt retraumatised by the way the church handled the abuse. “I spoke to one of Smyth’s victims, who told me that he still thinks about it every day,” she tells Hannah Moore. “He still wakes up in the night trying to process what happened to him more than 40 years ago.”

Harriet explains what went so badly wrong and looks at the measures the church has put in place to stop such a scandal happening again.