In Depth:  The Daily Telegraph

The Titus Trust, the body that replaced the Iwerne Trust which ran the Christian camps where John Smyth met his abuse victims in the ’70s and ’80s, could be sued by some of Smyth’s victims, it was reported in August.

Smyth QC, himself a sufferer of abuse at the hand of his own father and at his prep school, took boys from prestigious schools into a garden shed built specifically for the purpose of administering beatings. Victims said they were hit with a cane for up to two hours.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey admitted in July ‘fobbing off’ sex abuse victims who had complained about a paedophile bishop.

Appearing before the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Lord Carey said he did not deal properly with letters sent to him after Peter Ball was arrested in 1992.

A magistrate who refused to sit on a same sex parenting case has been given a formal warning for misconduct on 30 January.

Investigations Judicial Conduct The Office said it had ordered Susan Preston to stand down from hearing future family cases after she ‘declined to adjudicate on a case… because of her personal views about same sex couple parenting’. Mrs Preston has been a magistrate in South Derbyshire for 16 years.

At the end of February, Christian presenter, Dan Walker, replaced Bill Turnball on the early show, BBC Breakfast, amidst some controversy.

Some media reports complained that he is both a Christian and a creationist and that this would bias the way he handled the programme. Dan Walker, 38, who does not work on Sundays, is adamant that his faith will not ‘affect the way I do my job.’

The Law Society, on 23 November, withdrew controversial guidelines for solicitors on how to compile ‘shari’a compliant’ wills, amid complaints that they encouraged discrimination against women and non-Muslims.

Andrew Caplen, president of the Society, apologised and said the criticism had been taken on board.