Welby: Scale of church child abuse allegations left me 'overwhelmed'

FORMER Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said he was too "overwhelmed" by the scale of child abuse allegations in the Church to take action.

- By Jaymi McCann

He resigned in November after an inquiry revealed he did not adequately follow up on reports about serial abuser John Smyth QC, who was heavily involved with the Church of England.

The Makin Review, published on November 7 last year, found Smyth had subjected as many as 130 boys and young men to traumatic attacks across five decades in the UK and Africa.

It concluded that Smyth, a barrister who ran Christian summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported allegations to police in 2013.