‘There needs to be a public investigation – Justin Welby should be made an example of’
Share:
When he was 15 years old, Craig Freedman was caught stealing from the collection box at his local church. Rather than report him to the police, John Roberts, the priest at the church, asked him to odd jobs at the vicarage as a form of recompense. But what began as a simple way to pay back what he stole turned into a living nightmare – one that has haunted him for decades.
![[Church abuse victim fears Welby 'must have known more' about child abuse]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233662762-38f6.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=634)
Craig, 51, is one of four survivors who were sexually abused by Roberts at St Peter’s Church in Woolton, Liverpool. While Roberts was later convicted of indecent assault following his actions towards Craig, he was allowed to continue practicing and rose through the ranks of the Church of England.
![[Church abuse victim fears Welby 'must have known more' about child abuse - Paedophile ex-vicar sentenced for further attacks]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233662915-187c.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=447)
During his tenure as Dean of Liverpool from 2007 to 2011, former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, allowed Roberts to continue officiating despite knowing about the historical conviction. Craig, who has waived his right to anonymity, is now calling for an independent investigation into the former Archbishop – and says the Church of England’s safeguarding process is not fit for purpose.
![[English Anglican prelate and Test cricketer David Stuart Sheppard, appointed Bishop of Liverpool in 1975. Original Publication: People Disc - HH0294 (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233664261-dc11.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
‘The church put me down, slandered me, and my whole family who adopted me as a child disowned me, never believed me, and to this day they still don’t believe me,’ he told Metro. ‘The church is now trying to allow Welby to sneakily retire. He is a disgrace.’.
![[LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 18: The Most Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury talks at a debate on social inequality at the annual CBI conference on November 18, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233664826-7de3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Craig had been going to the church with his foster family for years as a child before the assault. It’s known as The Beatles Church as it’s where John Lennon and Paul McCartney met in the 1950s, and inspired them to write classic song Eleanor Rigby after seeing the name on a headstone in its graveyard.
