Alleged victim of Christian camp leader John Smyth 'beaten 3,000 times'

An alleged victim of a deceased former Christian charity leader said he was beaten by him 3,000 times.

John Smyth had been wanted for questioning over claims he physically abused boys at Winchester College during the 1970s and 1980s.

He died at his home in Cape Town, South Africa, on Saturday, aged 77.

Andy Morse, from Farnham, Surrey, said he twice tried to take his own life because of the lashings which he was told were to purge him of his sins.

The 57-year-old said he was relieved he would not face Mr Smyth, a former Queen's Counsel and senior member of Christian charity the Iwerne Trust, at a trial but said he would fight "as long as it takes" to bring abusers to account.

Mr Morse said he was assaulted about every four to six weeks between 1978 and 1982, when he was aged between 17 and 21, in the shed of Mr Smyth's Winchester home and at the camps he ran in Dorset for young evangelical Christians.

"I think I was probably beaten about 3,000 times. I learnt to control most of the physical pain - it was the mental anxiety," he said.

"Once the beatings were finished I was becoming anxious about the next time I was [to be] beaten."

He said he was forbidden by Mr Smyth to talk about the alleged abuse, including to other alleged victims.

"He said they wouldn't understand and he bound us to each other in secrecy," he added.

Reports of Mr Smyth's alleged physical abuse of 22 boys were revealed in an investigation by Channel 4 News in February 2017.

It followed a report by the Iwerne Trust from 1982, which was not made public until 2016.

Eight of the boys received a total of 14,000 lashes with a garden cane, while two more received 8,000 strokes between them over three years, it said.

However, the claims were not reported to police until 2013 - more than 30 years later.

Mr Morse said it was the long wait for justice that "keeps me awake at night".

In a statement, Peter Hancock, the Church of England's lead safeguarding bishop, said: "We utterly condemn this behaviour and abuse of power and trust.

"It is important now that all those organisations linked with this case work together to look at a lessons learnt review, whilst continuing to offer both formal and informal support to those who have come forward as survivors."

The Titus Trust, which ran the summer camps, said its board was made aware of the allegations in 2014.

"We sympathise deeply with Smyth's victims and continue to pray that they find healing and freedom from the harm that was so unjustly inflicted on them," it added.

Victim advocate, Andrew Graystone, said: "It won't do to offer sympathy and prayers."

He added the Titus Trust, Church of England and Hampshire Constabulary were "answerable to the victims for the fact that John Smyth with never come to justice".

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it could not currently comment on the case.

Hampshire Constabulary said it could not comment until it had spoken to the CPS and Mr Smyth's solicitor.