John Smyth (barrister)

Educated at Strathcona School, Calgary; Trinity Hall, Cambridge; and Trinity College, Bristol;[2] he was called to the Bar at Inner Temple in 1965 and took silk in 1979. He was a recorder from 1978 to 1984.

In July 1977, Smyth acted for Christian morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse in her successful private prosecution for blasphemy (Whitehouse v Lemon) at the Old Bailey against the newspaper Gay News and its editor, Denis Lemon, over the publication of James Kirkup's poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name.[3] He also initially acted for Whitehouse in her failed prosecution of the National Theatre production of Howard Brenton's play The Romans in Britain in 1980 but withdrew from the case through illness.[1]

He was chairman of the Iwerne Trust between 1974 and 1981. The Iwerne Trust was a fund-raising body for evangelical Christian holiday camps that had been founded by Eric "Bash" Nash for public school pupils, at the time run by Scripture Union, and on which Smyth was a leader.[4][5]

Smyth moved to Zimbabwe in southern Africa in 1984, where in 1986 he set up the mission Zambesi Ministries, which held summer camps for boys from the country's leading schools. He was arrested in 1997 during an investigation into the drowning of Guide Nyachuru, a 16-year-old adolescent, at the Marondera camp. Nyachuru's unclothed body was found at Ruzawi School pool in December 1992. Smyth has always said that his death was an accident, while the case of culpable homicide was eventually dismissed.[6][7] He then moved to Cape Town, South Africa, where he ran the Justice Alliance of South Africa (JASA) for some years. JASA describes itself as "a coalition of corporations‚ individuals and churches committed to upholding and fighting for justice and the highest moral standards in South African society".[8]

Smyth represented South Africa's Doctors for Life,[9] and, as an amicus curiae of the Constitutional Court in May 2005, unsuccessfully opposed the legalisation of same-sex marriage in South Africa.[6] Smyth claimed that to introduce same-sex marriage, would result in "violence to the mind and spirit" of the religiously devout and would discriminate against them.[10]

It emerged on 3 February 2017 that the board of the Alliance had asked Smyth to immediately stand down as the head of the organisation. His standing-down was described as temporary, but his return was not thought likely.[11]

Smyth died on 11 August 2018 at his home in Cape Town. According to a statement from his family passed to BBC News: "The official cause of death has not yet been made known, but the indicators are that it was a sudden heart attack following a heart procedure earlier in the week."[12]

A secret report from the Iwerne Trust in 1982 referred to "horrific" beatings of teenage boys, who sometimes bled.[13] Winchester College, with pupils among alleged victims, was told about the alleged beatings but both the college and the trust failed to inform the police about Smyth. The headmaster asked Smyth to keep away from the college and not to contact its pupils.[14]

In early February 2017, Channel 4 News in the UK broadcast a report on Smyth's alleged violent physical abuse of young men. He was challenged by reporter Cathy Newman, while on a Christmas and New Year visit to friends in Bristol, England.[15] Smyth commented that he was "not talking about what we did at all" and said some of the claims were "nonsense".[16]

Shortly after the initial media reports, the Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson, released a statement accusing Smyth of giving him a "violent, excruciating and shocking" beating as a young man on a single occasion.[17][18]

After the allegation became better known in 2017, Graham Tilby, national safeguarding adviser for the Church of England, said, "Clearly, more could have been done at the time to look further into the case."[14] Smyth was excommunicated from the Church-on-Main in Cape Town after church leaders said he refused to return to the UK and engage with police.[19]

In June 2020, the Church of England removed the permission to officiate from George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, in its investigation of its handling of the Smyth affair. The Church stressed that Carey had not himself been accused of abuse.[20]

• Titus Trust