The Bishop of Chichester has condemned the “evil deeds” of prolific abuser John Smyth.

The Right Reverend Martin Warner was speaking after the resignation of Archbishop Justin Welby following a damning report.

The Makin report revealed a cover-up spanning many years.

Over five decades, more than 100 boys and young men were abused physically, sexually and psychologically in the UK and Africa by Smyth, a lay reader who ran Christian summer camps.

Justin Welby announced on Tuesday that he was standing down after the independent review into the Church's handling of the Smyth case concluded he could have been brought to justice had the Archbishop formally reported him to police more than a decade ago.

Former barrister Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in August 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police.

Archbishop Justin Welby resigned on Tuesday following the Makin report (Image: Doug Peters/PA Wire) In a statement Bishop Martin said that the report revealed an account of "horrific brutality, inflicted by John Smyth”.

He said: “The consequent resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury is an indication of the gravity that we must attach to the crimes that are outlined in that report and the seriousness with which the Church of England takes its safeguarding responsibilities.”

Mr Welby was informed of the abuse at the hands of Smyth in 2013, a few months after he was installed as Archbishop of Canterbury and has since said that he had been told the police and local authority had been notified.

Neither of these proved to be the case, but the review found it was “reasonable to conclude” that Mr Welby had been assured that these steps had been taken.

In the Bishop’s statement he highlighted that the Church will continue to assess the findings of the Makin report as a “matter of urgency”.

He added: “Evil deeds were committed by John Smyth who was an evil man. Evil can have a long trajectory.

“It has to be named and brought to account: that is often a battle, and it can be costly.

“We are seeing the effect of that trajectory now and it must not be permitted to do further harm.”

REV PETER BALL PICTURED IN FEBRUARY 1991REV PETER BALL PICTURED IN FEBRUARY 1991 There have been high-profile cases of abuse by church figures in Sussex.

The Argus reported that in 2015 the former Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball, was convicted of sexual offences against 18 young men and sentenced to 32 months in prison.

He was released after serving 16 months and died in 2019.

At his trial, the court heard how he chose young priests to share his bed, forced them to take freezing showers while he watched and made one man roll naked in the snow before towelling him dry and beating him until he bled when he ran church events at Litlington.