Camp leader and rector reported as ab

6 February 2025

Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men to traumatic attacks across five decades

BBC A screenshot of John Smyth being interviewed. He is wearing a stripey white and blue shirt and in a chair, which is blurred because it is in the background and not in focus. — Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men to traumatic attacks across five decades

A Christian camp leader who was the rector of an Oxford church is alleged to have been sexually abusive, coercive and controlling towards women and girls.

David Fletcher was rector of St Ebbe's Church between 1986 and 1998 and remained a member of its congregation until his death in January 2022, aged 89.

The Church of England said information about him was brought to its National Safeguarding Team and the Diocese of Oxford after the Makin Review was published in November.

The review's publication centred on serial ab John Smyth and ultimately led to the resignation of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Mr Fletcher led the Iwerne camps in Dorset between 1967 and 1986, where Smyth met some of those he would go on to abuse.

Smyth, who died in 2018, is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men to traumatic attacks across five decades in the UK and Africa.

David Fletcher was rector of St Ebbe's Church between 1986 and 1998

Google A Google Maps image of St Ebbe's in Oxford, a stone church. — David Fletcher was rector of St Ebbe's Church between 1986 and 1998

In an interview with the Makin Review in 2020, Mr Fletcher said he "thought [reporting of Smyth's abuse] would do the work of God immense damage if [it] were public."

He also told the review that he could tell by Smyth's behaviour "how attracted he was to boys."

Mr Fletcher added: "[Smyth] took me on the boundary line at a cricket match, and he said: 'Look at that boy there, doesn't he look tremendous":[]}