Payouts for public school victims beaten by evangelist

MEN who were sadistically beaten by an evangelist when they were children have won a payout from a Christian organisation.

John Smyth QC, the chairman of the Iwerne Trust, violently beat numerous boys and young men in a garden shed at his home in Winchester – handing out up to 800 lashes – which left his victims bleeding.

The Scripture Union invited boys and young men from public schools, including students from Winchester College, to holiday camps financed by the Iwerne Trust during the Seventies and Eighties.

On Friday, the Titus Trust, which took over some of the responsibilities of Iwerne in 1997, revealed it had reached a settlement with three men who were subjected to the abuse from Smyth, an anti-gay campaigner, and would be conducting a review to examine its culture.

In a statement the trust said: “We are devastated that lives have been blighted by a man who abused a position of trust and influence to inflict appalling behaviour on others, and we have written to those concerned to express our profound regret at what happened and also to apologise for any additional distress that has been caused by the way The Titus Trust has responded to this matter.”

It added that the emergence of the details of the abuse had caused it to “reflect deeply on our current culture and the historic influences upon us”.

After the settlement was announced, victims of the abuse called for the Titus Trust to close and for the organisation to take part in a COE review into the abuse. In a statement they said: “Those of us who suffered as victims of John Smyth through our contacts with the Iwerne network simply want to uncover the truth.”

Smyth died from a heart attack in December 2018. He was due to be extradited from his home in South Africa to Britain to be interviewed by police.