Serious questions about the handling of the David Fletcher abuse scandal remain unanswered after the Diocese of Oxford refused to expand on its joint statement with his former church.
Anglican Ink reported last month that Fletcher had Permission to Officiate (PTO) in Oxford Diocese when safeguarding concerns first emerged about his behaviour towards women.
Fletcher, who died in 2022, was involved in St Ebbe’s, the conservative evangelical flagship church in central Oxford where he had been Rector from 1986 to 1998. He held the Bishop of Oxford’s PTO until July 2018.
The current Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, took up his post in 2016. Fletcher therefore had PTO in Oxford Diocese for the first two years of Croft’s episcopate.
In February following the Channel 4 News revelations that Fletcher was an abuser of women and girls, Oxford Diocese and St Ebbe’s issued a joint statement. This followed an earlier statement by St Ebbe’s which said: ‘Since 2017, by which time David Fletcher was very unwell and had ceased doing any ministry, St Ebbe’s received reports from two women about him having been inappropriately tactile with them. These were referred to the Diocesan Safeguarding Team {DST}. No other concerns have been reported to St Ebbe’s in relation to him.’
The Oxford Diocese-St Ebbe’s joint statement said that in 2017 Fletcher was told ‘to avoid physical contact that had any possibility of being considered inappropriate’ following a report of him ‘being inappropriately tactile with a member of the church’.
It also said that in 2019 ‘David Fletcher’s behaviour was again raised when a report of inappropriate tactility was passed to St Ebbe’s via a third party’. This was referred to the DST, ‘who confirmed that the appropriate action had been taken in 2017 and advised that the report did not meet the threshold for further action.’
The joint statement added that a further concern about Fletcher emerged in 2021: ‘St Ebbe’s heard indirectly of a couple who had approached David Fletcher to confront him about his behaviour some years previously. The couple were contacted and encouraged to make a report to the Diocese, which they did. David Fletcher was seriously ill at this point and, as he was no longer attending church, no further action was taken. ‘
In March Evangelicals Now ran a news story in which an Oxford Diocese spokesperson was quoted clarifying how St Ebbe’s handled the disclosures: ‘The 2017 complaint was handled by St Ebbe’s when first reported. When further disclosures were received, St Ebbe’s then referred to the DST.’
Anglican Ink last week contacted Oxford Diocese in the light of the news that Fletcher had PTO in 2017: ‘We know that Fletcher had PTO during the first two of years of Bishop Croft’s episcopate and that the St Ebbe’s leadership handled the initial disclosure about Fletcher themselves, not informing the DST until 2019.
‘Would Oxford Diocese be prepared to issue a statement on the handling of the 2017 disclosure about a minister holding the Bishop’s licence at the time and about the fact that the Bishop was not informed until at least two years later that there were safeguarding issues around Fletcher? What is Oxford Diocese’s position on this delay?’
AI also asked for further details about the handling of the 2017 disclosure by St Ebbe’s. Who told Fletcher to ‘avoid physical contact that had any possibility of being considered inappropriate’? Was it his former curate, Canon Vaughan Roberts, current Rector of St Ebbe’s, who issued the warning? Was Fletcher’s nephew, the Rev Pete Wilkinson, Roberts’s clerical number two at the church, involved in the conversation? Was the church’s safeguarding officer present? Were the St Ebbe’s churchwardens involved?
Oxford Diocese responded: ‘The diocese and St Ebbe’s actions in light of complaints made about David Fletcher’s behaviour have been detailed in this statement, on St Ebbe’s website. We have nothing further to add.’
Following the Channel 4 News investigation, more women have come forward with disclosures about their abuse by Fletcher, Evangelicals Now has reported. It is to be hoped for the sake of all his victims that there is full transparency from both Oxford Diocese and St Ebbe’s about the scale of the scandal, the culture that enabled him to abuse his position of trust, and the handling of the disclosures.
Julian Mann, a former Church of England vicar, is an evangelical journalist based in the UK.