the church also told dioceses they weren't typically expected to include dead clergy in their reviews. in a case where an abuser is dead, it doesn't mean the victims are, and the victims are the people who know what really happened, they're the people that knew if they colluded with other people, if they'd made complaints now on bbc news, panorama. in the past that were covered up or not listened to. so, unless you have a full picture this programme contains of what's really happened, you're never going to know the full scenes which some viewers may find upsetting. scale or scope of the abuse. tonight — the scandal of child abuse in the church of england. i think it's been a very big scores of serious abuse allegations problem, perhaps bigger than any were left out because the alleged of us would want to think. perpetrators were dead. we've been given a confidential document from inside the diocese of york. there are allegations here about 32 dead clergy from york diocese that weren't considered during the past cases review. some of the details make for disturbing reading. this entry says a vicar we investigate how senior clergy interfered with ten—year—old in one diocese failed to act. girls in the 1980s. and this one talks about serious it should have been offences against boys. dealt with right away. the investigation was announced and they didn't. theyjust turned a blind by the archbishop of york eye and moved on. after the review had concluded. abusers in church dioceses all dioceses were later who were able to evade justice for decades... they were extremely serious, some of the worst sexual offending that's imaginable really. we ask: did the church asked to do the same. put its own interests before the needs of survivors? i think there was too much concern about the reputation of the church, and there was not enough care are you the angels, and you the archangels?

for those who are themselves drjohn sentamu has never victims of abuse. published the results — nor and in the wake of past scandals, can we trust the church to do the right thing today? have other dioceses. the archbishop said he wanted to consider the privacy of victims and families of alleged abusers, and lessons learned were shared the church is not interested. within the diocese of york. why were some categories excluded, was there a cover up going on? no, i don't think it was a cover up. the church does not want to know. and that's today. not years ago — that's today. we've learnt a huge amount it's happening now. in the last 10 years, it should have been much better. so, why were dead people excluded? the blue mountains i think that was that was in eastern canada — an oversight, i think a world away from kevin bennington‘s there was a concern to get on with the job and therefore we started with the files that we had and didn't think childhood in england. about it in its breadth i've been here since 1976, ‘77. and, so, longer here and its depth, which we're than i have been in england. so, this is home. kevin went to school 3,000 miles away in lincoln, where he was a chorister

now seeking to do. in the cathedral choir. in 2010, three years in this extraordinary landscape, after the review had begun, do you ever think back the church of england to those days in lincoln? published its results. the number of cases that no, not really. required further action, i try to forget about it. according to the church, was surprisingly small. when the report was published, you think you've actively suppressed it all these years? it was two sides of an a4 sheet i think i have, yeah. of paper and had this ridiculous tried to, anyway. kevin was sexually abused conclusion that there were only 13 cases in the church of england in the last 50 years — after reviewing 40,000 clergy files. and i just thought, until the age of 13 by this "this is not credible." bishop alan wilson is one of the few man, roy griffiths. he was deputy head teacher at lincoln cathedral senior clergy in the church school in the 1960s. of england who's spoken out about the church's handling of abuse. you know, just on the back of a fag kevin was one of around 80 pupils. packet i could think of more than 13 cases. this is the first time but that's what we had been told. kevin's spoken publicly about his experience. he now knows he wasn't alone. did you have experience of more than those you'd heard he'd have one or two of us about locally, for example? orjust me in his apartment. oh, yes, yes. well, cases that were the things that would happen, questionable or people who had which i remember quite behaved questionably. vividly, these things, he would bath us and he'd have us naked, sitting watching the television,

because we'd get to sit and watch the tv. and then we'd have to be there, then he would touch us and we'd have to touch him. when you say he was touching you, what was going on? well, masturbating. and he, well, he tried to. and the same thing, same, the church had rejected a number we'd have to do that to him as well. of cases because it thought some in return, i suppose dioceses had taken too broad a view of the need for further action. we would get treats, i'm very disturbed now to find out and candy and chinese meals. there seems to have been quite vesta chow mein meals a process of whittling down and stuff like that, which i used to love. the numbers by changing the criteria lincoln, with its huge cathedral, of what was being looked at. has been an important centre i think there's a lot of massaging of the church of england for hundreds of years. going on at the centre that was deeply suspect. and roy griffiths held a position i think it was it was a real mistake not to put out all the data, everything we had. of trust right at the heart of it. so it was a mistake to come down on that figure, 13? here he is during a service. i think it was a very clear mistake and a very big mistake. choir singing. i think there was too much concern about the reputation of the church, and there was not enough care for those who are themselves victims of abuse. of the 13 cases the church of england said needed further action, not one involved the diocese of lincoln. we asked the diocese if it submitted any cases at all. it wasn't able to provide an answer. but four years later lincoln and this footage shows him realised it had a problem. in charge on sports day. a new employee found the list

over the years, that trust gave him that had been compiled access to other boys, for the past cases review. like mark wheeller. that made the diocese look that's at lincoln. again at all its files. that's in the formal chorister gear. it was then lincolnshire police were called in. there was 53 names on the first list which is you? i'm the middle one. and it was a surprise, to say mark has also never spoken publicly about his abuse before. the least, of the number of names mr griffiths was cold that were there. and frightening. 0peration redstone began, run by detective he was just all powerful. superintendent rick hatton. not all of the 53 names involved roy griffiths was a live—in alleged child abuse. teacher at the school. we whittled it down to about 25 when you got older, names whereby we either knew that there were certain privileges. one of them was that you could go they'd committed offences into his room at night or there was some issue around risk to members of the public from them. and watch late—night tv. one evening, he invited me to come there was the ongoing concern that over to sit on his lap. actually those people and then i remember feeling his hand, creeping down my groin were still involved in, not necessarily the care, towards my genitals, and kind of stroking. but certainly working with children. and so i got off his lap. he didn't ever make me do it so there was still a risk? potentially there was still a risk. detectives began searching for victims and evidence again, and that was that. from decades ago.

trying to build a case out of nothing, you've got no forensic evidence, you've got probably no witness evidence. but kevin bennington was repeatedly targeted by roy griffiths. in 1969, the abuse became more extreme on a school trip to scotland. trying to trace people from, for instance school records from the 1960s and you know, these people were spread to the four corners of the globe, really. one of the many trails led we stayed in a bed and breakfast to canada and roy griffiths' victim, kevin bennington. and he decided that he was going i never told my children. they didn't really know to try to have sex with me. anything about this at that point, i thought, until the contact with the police. "this is not right." my wife is very upset so i stopped it and i went out about the whole thing. and spoke to this woman do you think your life would have that was at her house, and she... been different if this i told her at that point hadn't happened to you? what was happening and she more than likely. it probably would contacted my mother. have been different. well, my mother's reaction was, she i could have been a totally was just flabbergasted, and furious. different person. she was ready to kill him. roy griffiths was finally and that's when she went immediately down to lincoln cathedral, convicted last year and sent to confront the bishop to prison for six years — nearly five decades after lincoln cathedral school had quietly let him go. what did you feel when, there he was, roy griffiths, about what had happened. in the dock, and he was sentenced to prison? it was probably one of the most

emotional days i've had as a police kevin's mother complained officer when he was sentenced. to the then bishop of it was a clear opportunity decades ago for roy griffiths' abuse to be stopped. the feelings i had for the victims the following year, another pupil and what they'd been through, made a complaint about griffiths' what came out in court, abusing boys at the school. was quite heart wrenching, there was a night when we heard that to be fair, you know. a boy had reported him for doing naughty stuff to kids. and had anybody else had this experience? and yes i had, so i went forward and i was really proud and talked to the matron, of the team, the job they did and that's when i realised and the investigation they did that what had happened was first class. wasn't quite right. 0peration redstone also investigated this man, the reverend john bailey — former director of education despite these reports, the school for lincoln diocese. let roy griffiths continue teaching for another two months. he abused three girls between 1955 and 1982. for the first time, one of them has agreed to speak. reverend bailey was and they didn't tell the police. instead, he was able to move to papua new guinea. friends with her family. we've discovered he went straight to this anglican boys' school, where he worked he would take the opportunity for at least ten years. it should have been dealt with right to come upstairs when i was in bed away, and the church should have if they were playing cards instructed the police, for being a paedophile. downstairs and he would touch

and they didn't. me under my clothes, theyjust turned a blind eye and moved on. this failure to act in lincoln was not a one off. while i was in bed, between my legs. child abuse was being buried in other dioceses too. but, it would be another a0 years before the church of england finally how long did it go on for? tried to put right the mistakes in its past. it went on from when i was four in 2007, the church ordered a national review until when i was 11. of its staff and clergy files, and it happened quite frequently going back decades. because we saw an awful lot of them. it wanted to find out how many cases maria horner was a detective on operation redstone. did you understand the impact that john bailey's abuse had had on his victims? had slipped through the net. huge in terms of trust, trust of other people. full stop. the questioning and the self—doubt and the sense of betrayal was palpable. it was called the past cases review, for some victims it's and it should have been a chance for the church to discover, once still very, very difficult. and for all, the scale of its abuse problem in the past. john bailey's victim every one of the church's 42 eventually told her family about it in the 1990s.

dioceses, led by their all—powerful bishops, was supposed to take part. i'd got engaged to be married and i really didn't want him to come to the wedding. so i told my parents what had happened at that point, for the first time and that i think ithink, overall, the past cases was the hardest thing review was a good piece of work. it was to try and establish whether there were any other cases i've ever done... of potential child abuse sitting in a dusty file somewhere. we're talking thousands of files. i think i reviewed in sorry. the woman's parents immediately wrote tojohn bailey at lincoln diocese, telling him excess of 3,000 files. dioceses were told to employ of the ordeal he'd put her through. independent child protection experts, like kate wood. they scoured 40,000 staff records looking for anything that could indicate child abuse and how the letter was opened by his assistant, forcing john bailey to go to his boss. it had been handled. we can reveal it was the then bishop of lincoln — robert hardy. my understanding is that john bailey explained you could come across a sentence. the matter away as a one off, i mean, for instance, if you like, and nothing was done. it could be something like, so that was a red flag that should

have resulted in some action? it was a clear opportunity, a potential for taking "that unfortunate it further, yes. business in the 1960s." or, you know, "that unfortunate a missed opportunity? business with the choir boys", a missed opportunity for sure. that gave you no more information that that, but obviously bishop hardy told usjohn bailey raised concerns. the most important part came next. admitted to him he'd "touched up" a female in the past. if a case hadn't been properly dealt with at the time, the diocese responsible was supposed to take action, which could include alerting the police. but right from the start, the bishop says he reprimanded him, but kept no record there was a serious flaw. of their conversation. the church of england decided not john bailey kept his job for six more years until another victim came to light. the diocese called in the police, to speak to survivors of abuse. but the survivors didn't want to go to court. this has completely i've never wanted anything dominated my life. bad to happen to him. the abuse took up 10 i wanted to forgive him. years of my life. but it has always been philjohnson leads a national church a huge concern to me abuse survivors group. as a boy in eastbourne, whether he was a risk he was abused by more than one member of the clergy. to other people. at the time of the review, that has always been my worry, he offered to give his local diocese that it might happen information about them. again to someone else. it was only when lincoln diocese contacted the police again in 2015 that the survivors agreed to give evidence.

i thought i had hugely relevant john bailey was sentenced information and i was told that to six years in prison. just because they are what we call this review would not be non—recent cases, doesn't make them any less serious. interviewing anybody, in fact it makes them more serious because they weren't dealt that it was a paper review and would only be a review with at the time so there's a risk from the offender ongoing. of records, so i thought it was just fundamentally flawed. bishop robert hardy told us no—one so, the review was not interested contacted him directly to make in talking to people who claimed a comment or complaint aboutjohn to have experienced abuse, the people that were bailey. the victims and the survivors? well, it certainly wasn't had they done, he would interested in talking to me. have investigated. here in wells, the bishop helps his failure, he said, oversee how the church of england was to trustjohn bailey which he deeply regrets. now handles allegations of abuse. why didn't the church want to speak to survivors? the failures in lincoln let child i think there was a pastoral concern, that we didn't abusers evade justice for years. want to re—traumatise folk, to disturb the people or contact people who may no longer some of that risk could've been have any contact with the church. removed earlier, and wasn't. i'm very clear that if we had spoken to survivors and victims of abuse, 00:10:45,613 --> 2147483051:42:07,521 that we would have had a much better 2147483051:42:07,521 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 review taking place. how do you see that? well, clearly that is the crux of the matter, that is the issue. you know, there was potential, and it's quite clear from some of the files that there's potential that that risk could've been mitigated there

and then at that time. lincoln diocese says investigations are continuing, and wouldn't be interviewed. in a statement it said, past matters have not been handled well, it was committed to learning from mistakes, and has worked with the police to manage risk. it apologised it took so long forjustice to be served. it promised support to anyone contacting it about abuse, and is making safeguarding part of its dna. two years ago the church commissioned an independent report into its past cases review. seven dioceses were ordered to re—do theirs. the church is very clear that we're aware that we've failed and i hope that we are increasingly transparent. and the church says it's changed the way it responds to allegations of abuse. we take this now very seriously. it will be my hope, as we go forward, i hope it will be increasingly understood that if survivors

and victims of abuse wish to come forward, what they need is a response from a church that is compassionate, that is fair, that is appropriate, and that is swift. but matthew ineson from west yorkshire says that's not been his experience. i've met many victims and survivors of abuse and their experience is that the church is not interested, the church does not want to know. and that's today. not years ago, that's today. it's happening now. when matthew was 16 he was sent to stay temporarily with his local vicar, trevor devamanikkam, who raped him. the first time was terrible, really, really terrible. and then it became a pattern of behaviour. so did you tell anybody about what had happened to you? afterwards. yes. at the time, i didn't think anyone would believe me. because i was only young and i thought who would believe me above the vicar? despite his ordeal, matthew kept his faith

and became a vicar himself. finally, in 2012, he says he told a bishop he'd been abused as a boy. i didn't get a chance to name my abuser. ijust said i was abused by a priest when i was a youngster. he said, thanks for telling me that, i really have to be elsewhere and kept looking at his watch and was gone. and how did you feel at that point? i was shocked. matthew says over the next year he told other clergy, including drjohn sentamu, the archbishop of york. how many people did you tell? i told eight times, twice in writing, the others verbally, to five different clergy, three bishops, one archdeacon and to the archbishop of york. and what was the response? nothing. the one letter i got that this from sentamu which said, thank you for your letter which i have read. please be assured of my prayers and best wishes for you. that was it. i was one of them.

i was a priest. i was one of their own. and if they can treat me like they have and do treat me what hope does anybody else have? matthew eventually told the police, and trevor devamanikkam was charged with six counts of sexual abuse. he took his own life two years ago, before he was due in court. it's really important that we learn from matthew ineson. he feels he's been let down, and i'm deeply, deeply sorry that's how matthew feels. there is, as a consequence, going to be a review of the way that he has been cared for and the way that he has been treated. the archbishop of york said he believed matthew's allegations were being dealt with, so there was no need for him to follow up. 0ne bishop told us no disclosures were made to him. another didn't comment. a third said matthew hadn't given a name or details and matthew's

complaints against him had been dismissed. the archdeacon couldn't comment because of the new review. for victims who've kept a secret for decades, the only way to help heal their wounds is to bring abuse into the light. i hope if i can share what happened to me, maybe one other person might find it easier to share what happened to them, and it might help to prevent it happening. until we respond in a way that's more like the good samaritan than an uptight institution trying to keep its nose clean and hide behind the sofa, chattering to the lawyers, i think that we won't get anywhere with this. so is the church now ready to come clean about the extent of abuse in its past? how many cases have there been in the past and today? i was chairing a meeting only a few

days ago when actually we gathered many, many statistics and we're very happy now to put those figures into the public domain, we're not trying to hide things. what are those figures? we're building an ongoing picture between years to see how many cases we're looking at, what sort of cases they are. so is it dozens, is it hundreds, is it thousands of cases, what are we talking about? well we're looking at cases in the past, the cases that are happening today, and my concern is to make sure that prevention is at the very heart of what we do. so you're not going to give me those figures? looking at an overall number isn't, i don't think, the most helpful way. those numbers are being brought together at the moment, they will be made public. the church says it will send numbers to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. but some campaigners say the church is incapable of putting its own house in order. they're now calling for a new law. i think that we cannot rely on institutions like the church to police themselves.

i think all allegations of childhood sexual abuse should be reported outside of that institution and i think this should be made into law. the church of england aims to hold the moral high ground. survivors say it can only do that if it rebuilds trust shattered by decades of hidden child abuse.

welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a new era begins injapan,

as emperor naruhito formally ascends to the throne. i will do my maximum effort to serve the country and the people of japan. i'm mariko 0i — live in tokyo — where people are looking forward to the era of beautiful harmony. we are expecting the car of the new imperial couple to drive off any minute and hundreds of people are gathering, hoping to get a glimpse of them. nicolas maduro makes a defiant speech on venezuelan television — as opposition protests against him continue.