‘Church of England braces for new abuse claims’

New allegations of child sex abuse against the Church of England are likely to emerge, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.

The Most Rev Justin Welby told the state-run BBC on Sunday that he expects more cases of child abuse to surface in connection to the church, saying that he deals with the issue on a daily basis.

“This is something I deal with every day and it is becoming clearer and clearer that for … many years things were not dealt with as they should have been dealt with,” he said.
The archbishop said the church needs to apologize, show justice to survivors of abuse and explain how “utterly devastated” it was about the “terrible things” that were done in the past.

Child abuse allegations against the Church of England came to light in 2007, following claims the church had covered up abuse cases dating back decades.

The UK has witnessed a surge in child molestation and sexual abuse cases, some of which go back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The best known case is that of disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile.

Savile died in October 2001. A year after his death, hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse and rape of minors became public, leading the police to believe that Savile was one of Britain’s most predatory sex offenders. Several high-profile figures have been arrested in connection with the multiple investigations into the abuse scandal surrounding Savile.

The British police have recently opened an investigation into claims of a Westminster pedophile ring, saying they have a list of about 40 alleged child abusers, including over 10 current and former British politicians.