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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigns after Church of England abuse scandal.l

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has resigned after the Church of England was rocked by a high-profile abuse scandal.

The Enthronement Of The 105th Archbishop Of Canterbury Justin Welby

Justin Welby has resigned. (Image: Getty)

Before he made the decision, a petition, started by three members of the General Synod – the church’s parliament- called for Justin Welby to quit and received more than 11,500 signatures.

Mr Welby has apologised after the independent Makin Review concluded that barrister John Smyth, who is thought to have been the most prolific abuser associated with the church, might have been brought to justice had the archbishop formally alerted authorities in 2013.

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Sir Keir Starmer would not comment directly on Mr Welby’s position, saying it was a “matter, in the end, for the church”, but he made clear that Smyth’s victims had been let down.

He said: “Let me be clear: of what I know of the allegations, they are clearly horrific in relation to this particular case, both in their scale and their content.

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“My thoughts, as they are in all of these issues, are with the victims here who have obviously been failed very, very badly.”

Smyth, who was a lay reader and led Christian summer camps, died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was “never brought to justice for the abuse”, the review published last week said.

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