The survivor said he first contacted Most Rev Stephen Cottrell in November 2024, but despite a follow-up two months later, he received no reply.
He said it showed the Church of England hadn’t been “entirely accurate” when it issued a statement to Premier Christian News in December 2025 regarding its Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) appointment process.
The statement said the CNC was committed to ensuring the process was safe and that “due diligence was carried out on the members of the Canterbury CNC, and there was survivor involvement in the appointment process.”
However, the survivor told Premier it took more than four months and the threat of media coverage for his concerns to be acknowledged.
His letter to Archbishop Cottrell in January 2025 called for the chair of the CNC, Lord Evans to be alerted to the concerns. It added: “To my mind if the next Archbishop is chosen by a CNC member associated with a major scandal - the consequences are likely to be seismic. Especially given that your remaining Archbishop is already in a compromised and precarious situation.”
After again receiving no reply, in March 2025 the survivor wrote to the National Safeguarding Team. In the letter, he again expressed his concerns over the CNC appointment and said he would contact the media because “Like many others, I have found that the Church only acts under the threat of media spotlight. It is the only thing that brings accountability to the senior layer. Nothing else works.”
The Bishop of Bath and Wells Rt Rev Michael Beesley responded within half an hour and forwarded it on to the Lambeth Palace Appointment Secretary Stephen Knott as well as asking for it to be drawn to the attention of Lord Evans.
The list of CNC participants was revised in May 2025.
Earlier this month the survivor wrote to the Church of England’s Director of Safeguarding, Alex Kubeyinje saying: “I did what I assumed to be the right thing. It was not fair that a survivor already under very considerable stress of years dealing with the high-level corruption and dishonesty of this institution should have had to go to such lengths to make sure someone responded properly.”
He has now received a reply from Mr Kubeyinje and in a separate letter dated 12th January 2026, Archbishop Stephen said this “shows these concerns were taken seriously and were passed on to the relevant bodies and appropriate action was taken. Nevertheless, I would personally like to apologise for the fact that you didn't hear from me or my office directly and for any distress this may have caused.”
The Archbishop of York’s office told Premier: “We can confirm that a survivor wrote to the Archbishop of York regarding membership of the CNC. All concerns raised are taken seriously, referred to the appropriate bodies, and acted upon as necessary. We are sorry that the Office of the Archbishop of York did not make this clear to the survivor at the time.”