It’s humbling to witness the eloquence and dignity of these survivors as they talk about their experiences with John Smyth – possibly the most prolific serial abuser ever associated with the Church of England

John Smyth was a sadistic predator who used to groom the boys in his care then beat them with such viciousness that he would have to provide adult nappies for them to wear afterwards lest they leave blood on the chairs in his home when he brought them back from his shed. He upgraded the shed at one point, to make it soundproof. One of the men who suffered at Smyth’s hands as a boy remembers bleeding for weeks after. Another says: “I honestly thought I was going to die.” Another says that despite the pain the worst part was afterwards, when Smyth would cover the boy’s bloodied body with his and nuzzle his sweaty face into the boy’s neck and give him butterfly kisses. In his nightmares it is “that draping” he relives.

Smyth, who died in 2018, was also a husband, a father of three children, a respected barrister, a prominent Christian evangelist, a moral campaigner, a man deeply involved with Winchester College (where he would give talks about the law and Anglicanism and invite interested boys to his family home for further discussions over Sunday lunches) and with the Church of England. He ran the Iwerne Christian summer camps for boys in Dorset and Zimbabwe throughout the 70s and 80s. All of this gave him uncountable opportunities to indulge his sadism. One boy in his care, Guide Nyachuru, died. An accidental drowning, said Smyth. Nyachuru was a strong swimmer. His family remains convinced that their 16-year-old boy died as a result of abuse by Smyth and was placed in the water afterwards. Smyth succeeded in discrediting the lawyer who was set to prosecute him for culpable homicide and fled back to England.