Church ‘abuse’ QC told parents he showered with boys
I am not a schoolmaster; I try instead to be something of a father figure to the camp, encouraging the younger leaders to care for their campers in the way the best of big brothers should.
“To this end we use Christian names all round, the younger leaders sleep in the dormitories with their campers, and we all (including myself from time to time) have our showers with the boys.”
The barrister, who was described by the Archbishop as a “delightful” man, also explained that he intended to impose a regime of corporal punishment.
He told parents: “We must, however, have good discipline and experience has shown that with so many high-spirited boys we need some form of sanction. I never cane the boys, but I do whack them with a table tennis bat when necessary.
“Such are the opportunities for pranks that I sometimes have to use this fairly liberally to deter high-spirited naughtiness and to ensure obedience and reasonable standards of tidiness.
“Although most of the boys regard TTB (as it is affectionately known) as little more than a joke, I try to keep a balance between making it a sufficient deterrent and not allowing it to spoil the happy atmosphere of camp.
“Very occasionally, if a boy offends in a more serious way, I will whack him with a slightly bigger bat which the boys call ‘Jokari’.”
He also encouraged the teenagers to swim naked: “Last thing at night the dormitory leaders will sometimes take their group for a short swim in the pool – or just a plunge if it is chilly. The boys run down in their towels and skinny-dip.”
Mr Smyth’s letter appears to back up claims from boys that they were abused by the barrister. Rocky Leanders, who attended one of Mr Smyth’s camps in the early Nineties, said he had been beaten to the extent that he could “barely sit down”.
The revealed yesterday that Mr Smyth blamed his actions on a sleeping pill addiction.
Hampshire Police is understood to have passed the investigation to its child sexual exploitation unit.