In a statement given in response to Julian Mann’s article “Alleged Iwerne abuser now under police investigation” spokesman for The Titus Trust said today:
‘Any allegation of abuse is of deep concern and we hope the authorities conclude their investigations swiftly so any victims can see justice done as soon as possible. So far as The Titus Trust is concerned, there are no allegations of abuse taking place at its camps, where safeguarding is paramount, and all volunteers, leaders and staff are subject to thorough DBS checks. The Titus Trust is not aware of any ongoing investigations beyond the Makin Review into the John Smyth case, which it is engaging with fully and transparently. In the absence of any firm detail about these other cases – such as who is involved, when the alleged behaviour took place, and what relationship those involved had, if any, to the Titus Trust – it is difficult to comment further’.“
There is no allegation in your piece that there has been any abuse at a Titus Trust camp. I’m not quite clear why the Titus Trust is so keen to jump in here and defend the reputation of the Iwerne network. They have spent the last three years saying that Iwerne was nothing to do with them.
It is incredible that Titus Trust have spent a large sum of money paying a media company led by a trustee of Stonewall. Are their funders really comfortable with that?! Would no media company aligned with their purported Christian views identify with them?
On the claim: ‘no allegations of abuse taking place at its camps’ – trustees and police have documentation to the contrary. Andy Morse correctly stated in BBC interviews (online) that beatings occured at Smyth’s home ‘and on camp.’ One can quibble about precisely what form of words ought to be used to describe the actual building used for beating by Smyth, during camp. One victim says a beating occured ‘on the premises where the Iwerne Camps were held’. Another victim says a ‘beating occurred in the village of Iwerne Minster, at a rented house owned by the school, off the main campus.’
Titus Trust are quibbling over words and paying a Stonewall Trustee to make them look better – they should be engaged in contrition not expensive unconvincing cover up.
I think that this should not be described as quibbling. For the Iwerne leaders to be unaware of such an extended beating with sessions both sides of lunch – that might seem to be negligence, the failure of a duty of care. Yet a moment’s thought tells us that even if *all* the 50-70 officers were at other parts of the site throughout, there would be no way of John Smyth guaranteeing that others (including boys) did not hear anything – in camps with a couple of hundred present.
So it looks like either John Smyth was operating outside camp hours (before the start or after the end of the camp) or, more likely, he was not on the campus at all at the time.
In reality, all will agree that there is precious little chance John Smyth would have perpetrated this in a place where he was likely to be found out. If we call him manipulative and secretive, as we do, then we cannot also blame the leaders for not realising that something was going on – assuming that the location was indeed the Old Vicarage (Devine House) which Google says is 11-12 minutes walk (half a mile, including a ‘hill’) from campus. This is the same walk, from the lounge of the Main House, that the younger Devine Boarders – est’d 30 in number? – do morning and night in term time. (Another possibility would be the Devine Annexe composed of cottages in the middle of the town: if these already belonged to the school c1981 then they would be more private locations still, and conveniently small, albeit only loosely able to be called ‘boarding houses’.)
So technically if this outlying off-campus house was used for Iwerne-camps accommodation (e.g. for leaders) then it was part of the camp and the leaders are technically responsible for what happened there. But no-one can actually blame them for not knowing nor even suspecting what was being done by a secretive individual half a mile away while they themselves were busy with camp activities. That is why we need clarity on details before we can possibly start apportioning blame or exonerating.
That is why I would not call this quibbling.
Surviving Church 16.3.20 article (comment by Stephen Parsons 19.3.20 directly quoting a victim) puts the beating (fairly authoritatively, I would have thought) ‘in a boarding house’, i.e. one of Clayesmore School’s ‘houses’ such as would have participated in ‘house’ competitions. During this period, it’s true that Iwerne people seem to have had access to The Old Vicarage in the village. That, however, would seem an improbable setting, if scarcely more improbable than the other. The quoted victim also makes clear that the beaten victim suffered at the hands of 2.
What I don’t recall is whether anyone slept outside the main house. Even if they did, the boarding house in question may have been outside the area of the buildings used for the camp activities.
Actually we can simplify this. The Old Vicarage in the village (a former not an active vicarage) certainly was at that time – and perhaps still is – one of the boarding houses, which would be a simple way for both the ‘school premises’ and ‘village’ characterisations to be correct. And it was available to Iwerne-camps people during at least some camp times. This would also be at a suitable distance for covert activities but simultaneously of a suitable nearness and accessibility.
Lest ‘boarding house’ conjure up a place that accommodated 60-70 I would think this one was more like 15. As indeed one would expect from a vicarage. It was plush and recently refurbished for its new purpose. Whether Clayesmore School had other boarding houses ‘down town’ besides this one I cannot say, but a capacity of 15 would have meant it served only as an overflow and overflow accommodation would (one would have thought) have been kept to a minimum.
Positively last contribution: the name of the boarding house would, supposing such a theory to be correct, be Devine House – but I was wrong about the capacity: it apparently sleeps 50 students and has 100 on its books.
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