Accusers’ regret at death of man said to have abused boys at camps

ACCUSERS OF a British barrister who allegedly abused boys at Christian camps have spoken of their regret that he will not face justice after he died in South Africa.

Police had been planning on questioning John Smyth QC over allegations that he beat children in the 1970s and 1980s while he was a leader at the Iwerne Trust camps.

Officers in Hampshire had passed a preliminary file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and were preparing to ask him to return voluntarily to the UK for questioning. But he is believed to have suffered a sudden heart attack and died on Sunday in Cape Town at the age of 77.

Among his 22 accusers is Mark Stibbe, 57, who claims he was groomed by Smyth as a young man from the age of 16, leading to physical beatings at the age of 20.

Mr Stibbe, a former vicar who lives near Skipton in North Yorkshire, said just eight days after hearing that the police wanted to question Smyth, he was told he had died.

He said to have his hopes raised, “only to have them dashed in an instant, with the realisation that Smyth was no longer able to face justice, was a great disappointment”.

He said: “There is still work to be done, even though we can’t have justice in relation to John Smyth by conventional means. It has always been the case that there are two stories here, not one.

“There is the story of the original abuse but there is also the story of the cover-up of this abuse.”