A victim of an abuser linked to the Church of England said the abuse left him with “PTSD and mental health issues”.

Warning: This story contains details that readers may find disturbing

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned today after an independent review concluded that John Smyth QC could have been brought to justice if the archbishop had formally alerted the authorities in 2013.

Smyth, who ran Christian summer camps, is said to have abused up to 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa over five decades, subjecting them to traumatic physical, sexual and psychological attacks.

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Andy Morse, one of Smyth’s victims, told Sky News he met his abuser at a Christian meeting at Winchester College in 1975.

“Over a number of years I’ve been grooming myself,” he said.

“He introduced sadistic beatings when I was an older teenager and throughout my university days to the point where I tried to put my life on the line to stop the abuse.”

He said the abuse was ‘physical’, adding: ‘There was hitting, lots of caning.

“But far more damaging to me was the mental anguish that came with it and the countdown from one beat to the next.”

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Struggles with ‘PTSD and mental health issues’

That anguish drove Mr. Morse to try to take his own life.

“For my 21st birthday, John Symth suggested I needed a special beating. That’s when I decided it would be better to face death than another beating,” he said.

He was found and rescued by his friends and said: “I went on because it emerged that the attempted suicide was one of the key factors in Smyth’s abuse in the UK coming to an end.”

Asked how the ordeal affected him, he said: “I’ve struggled with PTSD and mental health issues.

“Especially in later life, there was a time when I felt I was free of the abuse and John Smyth, but the thoughts came back and the anxiety came back and it showed in different ways in my life.

“I can honestly say that probably not a day or two goes by that I don’t think about it and if I could have done more to expose Smyth and therefore stop the abuse that went on in Africa.”

In 2018, Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town while being investigated by Hampshire police.

Makin magazine, published last week, said he had “never been brought to justice for abuse”.

Resignation ‘a brave thing to do’

Speaking before Mr Welby resigned, Mr Morse said if he did not, Smyth’s victims would “all be stuck”.

He said Mr Welby “was in the Christian camps where we were cared for in the 1970s and 80s” and “knew some of us personally”.

He added: “If he does step down, I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for him to really put the care of victims of abuse in the church at the heart of his reign as Archbishop of Canterbury. I think that would be a brave thing to do. “

Anyone feeling emotionally disturbed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email [email protected] in the UK.