Church 'acts to protect children'

The Rev David Smith was jailed for five-and-a-half years

The Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Rev Peter Price has detailed the steps the church is taking to protect children from sex offenders.

The statement come after the Rev David Smith, 52, of St John's Road, Clevedon, was jailed on Thursday for sexually abusing six boys over a 30-year period.

Bishop Price said the church had apologised to his victims and families.

"Now priests and ministers are subject to criminal records checks and have to make child protection declarations."

Bishop Peter Price added: "We are very sorry that these offences were committed by a man in a position of trust.

TV appearance

"Every parish has a child protection officer and all our policies and practices are overseen by a child protection group which includes senior police officers," he said.

The Churches Child Protection Advisory Service had asked whether the Diocese of Bath and Wells were aware of concerns over Smith when he was appointed to St John's Church in 1993, and why he was permitted to continue to work after a complaint was made in 2001 to the former bishop, the late Jim Thompson.

"When Smith came to us from Gloucester Diocese there was nothing on his file to indicate there were any concerns about him. No complaint about sex abuse had been made to police during his time there," said Bishop Peter Price.

We did everything we could at the time The Rt Rev Peter Price

The complaint was made in 2001 after Smith appeared on television following the 9/11 tragedy in which he lost a cousin.

The man concerned made an allegation about abuse which happened in a boarding school in 1976-77 when Smith was teaching before he went for training for the ministry.

"That man met Bishop Jim but made no formal complaint to the police and did not press charges. Bishop Jim informed the police of the allegation. "

But Smith vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

However, he accepted a protocol in which he agreed not to be alone with children, not to have children in his house and to be regularly reviewed by the then Bishop of Taunton, the late Andrew Radford.

"We did everything we could at the time and without a formal complaint to police there were no grounds to remove him from his post.

"When another complaint was made in 2005 we again immediately informed the police, the boy involved did make a formal complaint so we were able to suspend Smith from his position while there was an investigation which led to the court case and his subsequent conviction," said Bishop Price.

A Church of England spokesman said: "Today, when a new bishop comes into post, they review past and current cases on file with their child protection advisers. If they identify a risk to children they will take action.

"As with any such tragic case, we will be reviewing the details, and seeing what further lessons can be drawn from it to help inform the continuing development of diocesan and national policies on child protection."