Church sex abuse survivor calls for bishop to resign

A man who was raped by a priest as a teenager has renewed his call for the Bishop of Oxford to resign.

Matthew Ineson disclosed the abuse he suffered to the Right Reverend Dr Steven Croft in 2012 while he was Bishop of Sheffield, but an independent review last year found senior clergy had "failed to act".

Mr Ineson accused Dr Croft of hypocrisy after he said it was right that the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned over safeguarding failures.

Dr Croft said it was one of his "deepest regrets" that he did not do more to ensure the disclosure was followed up.

Mr Ineson, who has waived his right to anonymity, was raped and sexually assaulted in the mid 1980s when he was 16 by Reverend Trevor Devamanikkam, who was a priest at St Aidan's Church in Bradford at the time.

Nearly 30 years later, Mr Ineson said he told five senior clergy including Dr Croft about his experiences on eight separate occasions in 2012 and 2013 - but the information was never followed up.

In 2014 he formally reported the abuse to West Yorkshire police, which launched an investigation.

Trevor Devamanikkam, who had retired and moved to Witney, Oxfordshire, was charged with six sex offences but he took his own life on the day he was due to appear in court in June 2017.

The following month, Mr Ineson called for four serving bishops and an archbishop to resign citing misconduct and allegations of a cover up.

Mr Ineson had lodged complaints against Dr Croft, as well as four other senior clergy, claiming they failed to act on his disclosures of rape – but the complaints were dismissed by the Church because the allegations were more than a year old.

Mr Ineson said he felt things were now finally coming to a head after the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Whelby announced he would resign following a damning report that found he "could and should" have effectively reported prolific child abuser John Smyth to police in 2013.

"Steven Croft did the same thing and he did it multiple times... in my case a youngster, me, was raped several times by a priest, that priest then kills himself all on Croft's watch and the diocesan bishop is ultimately responsible for good safeguarding practice," said Mr Ineson.

"The Church has protected him for far too long, he's done wrong, you cannot now say that he is not a safeguarding liability, he must go."

Mr Ineson said he believed that Trevor Devamanikkam continued to abuse people between 2012 and 2017, when the former priest committed suicide.

The BBC contacted West Yorkshire Police regarding allegations of further victims but they were unable to confirm or deny the claims.

Dr Croft himself apologised in May 2023, for a "costly" mistake following Mr Ineson's complaint that he was raped as a teenager by a vicar.

A review found that Dr Croft did not act sufficiently on the disclosures in 2012 and that no safeguards had been put in place to protect others.

In a statement, the Rt Revd Dr Steven Croft, Bishop of Oxford, said: "It is one of my deepest regrets that I did not do more to ensure Matthew's disclosure to me was followed up as it should have been.

"At the time of the disclosure, Matthew did not reveal the name of his abuser. This came to light much later.

"Following the publication of the Lessons Learned Review, I made a full and frank apology to Matthew and offered to meet him in person. That offer still stands.

"The case has been looked at a number of times by several different bodies and on each occasion no further action has been recommended."

Another bishop Mr Ineson called on to resign, the Right Reverend Glyn Webster, who left his role as Bishop of Beverley in 2022, said: "I have been horrified by the abuse suffered by Matthew Ineson since I first learned of it, and I am extremely sorry that his past experience continues to affect his wellbeing."

A Church of England spokesperson said Matthew had been let down by the Church.

They said: "We are truly sorry for the abuse he suffered and for our failure to respond well.

"The independent review published last year looked into the lessons to be learnt from the case, this included a detailed look at the actions of senior leaders.

"The Church is committed to learning from the recommendations in the review by Jane Humphreys and those criticised in the review have personally responded to the findings."

The BBC has approached the other bishops concerned for comment.

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.