Four Church of England priests have become the latest casualties of the fallout of its failure to investigate child’s abuse committed by John Smyth, a former official.

The church has suspended their licences to practice as priests.

A PTO is a licence granted to a bishop allowing clergy to conduct services and perform ministerial duties.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, had earlier on November 12 resigned his position following the failure of the church to investigate the Smyth affairs.

Smyth, now deceased, was the organiser of the Christian youth camps during which he perpetrated physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks on about 130 boys and young men.

The crime spanned from the 1970s up until his death in South Africa in 2018.

Christian Today, quoting a report by The Telegraph said the Diocese of London withdrew the permission to officiate (PTO) from Hugh Palmer, former rector at All Soul’s Church, Langham Place in London, and Christianity Explored founder Rico Tice.

The diocese also withdrew PTO from Sue Colman, associate minister at St Leonard’s Church in Oakley, Hampshire, while in the Diocese of Gloucester, the licence of Cheltenham-based pastor Nick Stott was also withdrawn.

The action followed a report which indicted the Church of England for a “cover-up” of the abuse perpetrated by Smyth.

According to the Keith Makin Review, Palmer, a former chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II, met with Smyth in 1982 the day he tried to commit suicide but he (Palmer) said he did not realise that Smyth’s attempt to take his life was linked to the abuse.

“Hugh Palmer visits victim (and) tells victim he was extremely sympathetic to abuse suffered at (the) hands of John Smyth,” the document said.

Tice left the Church of England following the introduction of same-sex blessings though he retained his PTO to enable him continue to speak in Church of England’s churches.

He had explained that upon becoming aware of the abuse in 1987, he expressed concerns “soon afterwards” and “reported what I knew to senior people in the Iwerne camp more than once.”

“As a university student in the spring of 1987, I was told that boys at Iwerne camps had been beaten. At that time, I was not aware of the dreadful severity of those beatings, certainly not that they amounted to criminal assault,” Tice told The Times.

The review noted that Colman and her husband Jamie had “significant knowledge” of Smyth’s abuse in Africa and in the UK because they were trustees of a ministry that funded his work in the former.

It said Stott was among the first on the scene when Guide Nyachuru, a 16-year-old boy died in suspicious circumstances at one of Smyth’s camps in Zimbabwe.

Stott however said he had “a confidence that any matters would have been investigated and dealt with by people he trusted.”