The Church of England is a Cesspool of Failed Safeguarding

Failures go right to the top of the ecclesiastical chain

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue, DD

www.virtueonline.org

February 8, 2026

If you wonder why the Global South in all its variety regards the Church of England with mild scorn, but with even deeper shouts of heresy, one need look no further than its failed safeguarding practices.

It is a mockery of all that is holy.

Dr. Ian Paul, an evangelical theologian in the CofE outlines it all here. https://www.psephizo.com/life-ministry/do-we-have-safeguarding-leadership-in-the-church-of-england/

The prevailing mentality combines deliberate stalling tactics, prolonged and agonizing delays in implementing the practices, the ignoring of facts about vicars who perpetuate harmful practices on children time and time again without fear that any permanent discipline will come their way.

It is a shocking display of hubris, "I see nothing here" that must shock the living God. Why this has not become a Sodom and Gomorrah moment is bewildering. Why these archbishops, bishops and clergy have not been turned into pillars of salt for the harm they have caused by their neglect and blindness can only be explained by a long-suffering God who will in His time judge them all at the Last Judgement.

Let us look at the to-ing and fro-ing between the newly anointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, an appointment already rejected by the vast majority of the Global South and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.

It is a study in denial, lies, half-truths and a blatant refusal to face facts.

Archbishop Mullally was credibly charged with failed safeguarding.

A Premier Christian News investigation into the case of N, who claims he was abused by a priest in the Diocese of London, refuses to go away. N said the response and lack of investigation into his claims by the Diocese of London and Sarah Mullally, as Bishop of London, caused him to have such a severe mental health breakdown that he made two attempts on his life.

He brought a CDM complaint against the accused priest, but Bishop Mullally was accused of contravening the safeguarding code of practice by sending a confidential email about the allegations directly to the priest concerned, outside of the CDM process.

In 2020, Survivor N brought a complaint under the CDM for her handling of his case, but he and his solicitors heard nothing more until Premier contacted the Diocese of London in December 2025. It emerged that the complaint hadn't progressed and was no longer outstanding.

Following the Premier investigation, the Church of England undertook a scrutiny report into Bishop Mullally's handling of the case, with the Archbishop of York given the final decision. In his final ruling dismissing the complaint, Most Rev Stephen Cottrell wrote: "After having very carefully reviewed the matter I have determined that no further action will be taken in respect of this complaint." He added: "Accordingly, I am entirely satisfied that there is no misconduct".

In a statement to Premier in December, Bishop Sarah said the CDM complaint against the accused priest had been "fully dealt" with. N disputed this and has now received a letter from the Diocese of London's Registrar Stuart Jones, informing him that the allegations against the priest would now be looked into. The Bishop of Fulham has been tasked with handling the complaint which should be dealt with within 28 days.

Both Archbishop Stephen and Bishop Sarah are still subject to separate complaints under the Clergy Discipline Measure. The two complaints were filed by N in December and are being overseen by the Bishop of Winchester Rt. Rev. Philip Mounstephen.

This is like two foxes guarding the henhouse. The only thing missing is the backslapping and a 'keep on keeping on' moment.

That Mullally said she did all she could was clearly untrue and Cottrell exonerated her while he himself faced similar failed safeguarding issues.

Archbishop Cottrell’s failed safeguarding is even more egregious and deliberate. Consider the case of the Rev. David Tudor.

Tudor was ordained in the Church of England, and served in Southwark Diocese in the 1980s, and then in Chelmsford Diocese from 2000, as Rector of Canvey Island. As a BBC report from a year ago notes:

In 1988, David Tudor was a defendant in two criminal trials. In the first trial, he was acquitted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old school girl although he admitted having sex with her when she was 16.

In the second trial, he was convicted of indecently assaulting three girls and was jailed for six months. The conviction was quashed on technical grounds because the judge had misdirected the jury. In 1989, Tudor was banned for sexual misconduct by a Church tribunal but was allowed to return to ministry after 5 years. In 2005, Tudor was suspended as police investigated an allegation he had indecently assaulted a child in the 1970s. He was not charged and was allowed back to work under conditions. From January 2008, Tudor had been working under a safeguarding agreement preventing him from being alone with children or entering schools in Essex—and yet months later he had become an area dean in charge of 12 parishes.

All this was known by Cottrell when he was appointed bishop of Chelmsford in 2010. In 2012, Cottrell was told about the £10,000 payout Tudor had made to Jessica, who says she was sexually abused by him, sometimes very violently, from the age of 11 during the 1970s when Tudor was training to be a minister. Cottrell nevertheless reappointed Tudor, not once but twice, as Area Dean, and also (as part of a new diocesan policy Cottrell introduced) made him an Honorary Canon of Chelmsford Cathedral.

In 2019, fresh allegations were made, and Tudor was suspended from ministry. Ian Paul noted that there was a long delay in bringing a formal tribunal against Tudor, because the police were slow to review the case and decided that they would not prosecute. Finally, a Church disciplinary tribunal found Tudor guilty of gross misconduct and banned him for life.

A senior Church of England disciplinary decision concluded that there was "no case to answer" in relation to the Archbishop of York's handling of the David Tudor safeguarding case. REALLY? This is an example of institutional failure, personal failure and anybody daring to challenge the prevailing ecclesiastical and theological winds.

In any secular environment would Cottrell still be holding onto his job? Hell no. He'd be tossed to the curb. Not even he could play the victim game, or "I couldn't do anything about it" nonsense.

It should not be forgotten that two archbishops of Canterbury resigned over sex abuse scandals.

Former Archbishop George Carey got his head handed to him following a damning report on abuse perpetrated by John Smyth, a Christian leader and alleged serial abuser. Carey resigned from his last formal role in the Church after Dame Moira Gibb's independent investigation found he covered up, by failing to pass to police, six out of seven serious sex abuse allegations relating to 17- to 25-year-olds against Bishop Peter Ball a year after Carey became archbishop.

Former Archbishop Justin Welby took the fall over his failure to deal adequately with the findings of the Makin Report and the brutal beatings by the now deceased lawyer John Smyth.

Dr. Paul asks three questions: How can the Archbishops' Council oversee aspects of safeguarding with confidence, with Stephen one of the two senior figures on the Council and its notional chair? How can the General Synod make decisions on safeguarding implementation, with Stephen as one of its presidents? How can the wider Church have confidence in safeguarding policy, when someone responsible for such serious failures remains in post?

Cottrell should resign, but that won't happen because Mullally has his back. But it is yet another reason why 98% of the British public have no confidence in the Church of England; have little interest in its woke messaging, and, most egregiously, its priests are too afraid to tell people that rejecting the gospel has eternal consequences.

It is not just the church's failed safeguarding, it is the church's failed gospel messaging, and that, as the apostle Paul says in Rom. 1:18, invites "the wrath of God…against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness." And that includes archbishops and bishops in the Church of England.

END