In a statement on its website, the Church of England said that following a formal investigation, the case against former Archdeacon of Horsham Roger Combes was referred back to the President of Tribunals, who has now decided there is no case to answer.
In the second case, the National Director of Safeguarding sought permission from the President of Tribunals in October to bring an ‘out of time’ allegation of misconduct against retired vicar Iain Broomfield.
The statement said: “Having considered the representations of both the Director and the Respondent, the President has decided that permission will not be granted. This determination brings matters to a close.”
Roger Combes, who retired in 2014, was criticised in the Makin review into Smyth’s abuse for having received a document compiled in 1982 which detailed abuse against young men at Christian summer camps. He told the review that he had “held this unopened on his knee, realised the seriousness and the nature of the report and chose not to read it", believing that “the victims would be embarrassed if he knew the details".
Iain Broomfield led the camps where Smyth would meet his victims, between 1987 and 2000. The Makin report said that, around 1998, Broomfield informed a young priest that there was a “previous issue” regarding Smyth and that “something bad” had happened at Winchester College.
At the time of the Makin review, Broomfield had been suspended as vicar of Christ Church, Bromley, over an unrelated safeguarding case. He was rebuked by the Church in 2022 for “conduct unbecoming and inappropriate to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders”.
The National Safeguarding Team announced in February 2025 that it would bring disciplinary proceedings under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) against ten clergy, including Combes and Broomfield, who were named in the Makin Review into Smyth’s abuse.
A further name was announced in October.