The incoming Archbishop of Canterbury must not take up her role until complaints about an alleged abuse scandal are resolved, clergy have said.

Three Anglican clergy told The Telegraph that it would be inappropriate for Dame Sarah Mullally to become the new Archbishop until complaints over her handling of the case have been addressed.

The row centres on claims that she failed to address an alleged groping incident by a priest in her London diocese properly.

It risks overshadowing Dame Sarah’s appointment as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury at a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral next week.

The alleged victim, known as Survivor N, claims he was groped and asked to perform a sex act by a priest. The priest also allegedly invited N to his flat and proceeded to change clothes, which involved stripping down to his underpants, before talking about his sex life. He allegedly suggested there was a “sexual attraction” between himself and N.

The Rev Robert Thompson, a London vicar and member of the General Synod, the Church of England’s legislative body, said: “Sarah has been admirably clear that the Church needs a safeguarding culture shaped by victims and survivors, and that credible review must be genuinely independent.

“That is exactly why the responsible and Christian step now is a temporary pause to the process of her appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury while the outstanding questions are properly addressed – not as a verdict, but as a matter of integrity.”

Last month, Dame Sarah said in a statement that church authorities had “fully dealt with” N’s formal complaint accusing the priest of sexual assault after it was made in 2020. However, the alleged victim claimed that he had never heard anything about the outcome of his complaint.

‘Credibility is part of safeguarding’

Documents seen by The Telegraph show that the Church’s own officials are currently looking into the case – which, N suggests, shows that his complaint is neither resolved nor “fully dealt with”, as Dame Sarah claimed, six years after it was made.

N has now filed an official complaint, known as a Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM), against Dame Sarah over her remarks. It is being examined by the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, the Bishop of Winchester.

A separate complaint made by N against Dame Sarah, over her handling of his complaint against the priest, was dismissed by her closest-ranking colleague the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, earlier this month.

N had also claimed she had “failed” him by sending a confidential email about the allegations directly to the priest concerned. The Telegraph has also seen the correspondence, in which Dame Sarah wrote to the priest saying that N’s claims were “unsubstantiated”.

N has indicated that he will be appealing against Archbishop Cottrell’s dismissal of this CDM.

Rev Thompson, who was also one of three Synod members who started a successful petition calling for the resignation of Justin Welby, the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, said: “Those questions include the concerns raised publicly about safeguarding culture and process in the Diocese of London, clarity about how independent scrutiny is being applied at the highest level, and the unresolved position of clergy disciplinary matters that have been reported as still outstanding and brought by Survivor N.

“If Sarah, and the Church as a whole, is really serious about rebuilding trust after repeated failures, we cannot allow undue momentum to outrun accountability. Independence means slowing down until the facts are clear, because credibility is part of safeguarding itself.”

Focus on victims, not careers

Survivor N said: “The new Archbishop of Canterbury is taking up office with a live and outstanding Clergy Discipline Measure complaint.

“The complaint against Sarah Mullally relates to her burying my abuse complaint for five years, and then misleading the public in her untrue public statements that my original abuse complaint was “fully dealt with”.

The Rev Simon Grigg, the rector of St Paul’s Covent Garden, in central London, also warned that it would be “inappropriate” for Dame Sarah to take up office while these complaints are outstanding.

He added: “It would be a matter of credibility, because Welby went for precisely this reason, so to have Mullally in post when there are outstanding questions about her own response to safeguarding concerns would be, in my opinion, inappropriate.

“Sarah Mullally saying that N’s claim was ‘fully dealt with’ when it wasn’t raises questions about her propriety. This is very serious, because we’re talking about people who have been abused and the focus should be on them, not on people’s careers. Words are fine, but we all should be judged on what we do, not on what we say we do.”

The Rev Stephen Parsons, a retired Anglican priest who runs the Surviving Church blog, which focuses on victims of Church-related abuse and institutional power, added: “With a small coterie of ecclesiastical lawyers, one would find it difficult to get an independent view. Survivor N has tried to find justice in the Church of England.

“I regret the situation where someone can be appointed to a higher post while a CDM is still against them unresolved. I feel the Church of England is not showing itself in a good light.”

A Diocese of London spokesman said N’s allegations against a priest were originally received and investigated in 2014 and 2015, and no safeguarding concerns were found.

The spokesman added that a restraining order had later been sought by the Metropolitan Police in relation to N’s contact with the priest concerned and was issued in 2017. It remains in place.

The Diocese added that the 2020 complaint against the priest had been “revisited” following N’s public statements and was now being “considered and determined” by the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev Jonathan Baker.