The Church of England vicar and Colman’s husband, the mustard heiress, has withdrawn from church activities after being named in a damning harassment report that led to the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Rev Sue Colman, assistant vicar at St Leonard’s Church in Oakley, near Basingstoke, Hampshire, was aware of the abuse of John Smyth before he was ordained, the independent Makin Review found.

The review said Ms Colman and her husband, Sir Jamie, visited Smyth in Africa in the 1990s and while they financed the Smyths through a personal trust, they also had ‘significant knowledge’ of the abuse.

Sir Jamie was chairman of the UK Zambesi Trust, and his wife was a trustee.

It was revealed that Smyth had abused at least 130 boys and young men while running Christian camps over five decades in the UK and Africa; The investigation revealed that the ‘disgusting’ abuse was covered up by the church.

Reverend Sue Colman was asked to step back after the Makin Report found she and her husband knew about Smyth’s abuse and failed to act.

John Smyth (pictured) died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018 while being investigated by Hampshire Police.

The review by Keith Makin found that the Church had knowledge of solicitor Smyth’s abuse at the “highest level” since 2013 and that its response was “completely ineffective and amounted to a cover-up”.

The scandal led to the resignation this week of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who served in the camps in the 1970s.

The review named the Colmans as saying: ‘On the balance of probabilities, it is probable that both Jamie and Sue Colman, given their positions as trustees, had significant knowledge of abuses in the UK and Africa.’

Victims of Smyth, a lawyer who ran Christian summer camps and is thought to be the most prolific abuser associated with the Church, have called for more resignations of senior clergy involved in the scandal.

In a statement on Thursday, the Diocese of Winchester said it had asked Ms Colman ‘to stand down from all ministerial duties while we consider the findings of the review and work with the National Safeguarding Team to take the necessary steps to manage the relevant risks’.

He added: ‘Mr Colman does not hold a formal ministerial position in our diocese but has also been asked to step back from volunteering.’

The statement said the Bishop of Winchester, Philip Mounstephen, “made clear that all failures in conservation, whether local or national, must be treated with the utmost seriousness and that the response to these failures must be proportionate and appropriate.”

Oakley and Wootton Parish later said the couple had agreed to step back: ‘Reverend Sue Colman has served as a part-time volunteer assistant minister in our congregation for a number of years.

‘As Sue and her husband Jamie were named in the Makin report, they have agreed to step back from their current ministry in the church while this review takes place.

‘We cannot imagine the pain and distress that John Smyth’s actions have caused to so many people. Our hearts break when we think of the lives damaged.’

Involving up to 130 boys and young men in three different countries, the UK and Africa, over five decades, Smyth is said to have permanently marked the lives of his victims by subjecting them to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual assaults.

Smyth was a prolific child abuser who used the Iwerne Trust’s beach camps to target potential victims.

The scandal prompted Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (pictured) to resign yesterday following a damning report saying his failure to act meant the “disgusting” serial abuser would never be brought to justice.

He had a particular passion for the students of Winchester College, the famous public school (and Rishi Sunak’s alma mater) near his idyllic family home in Hampshire.

Young members of the school’s Christian Forum, which sent a delegation to the camps, would be invited to lunch and a swim in the pool on Sunday before retiring to Smyth’s cottage, where they were instructed to confess various sins.

He would then instruct them to strip naked before unbuttoning their trousers and administering brutal punishing beatings with a garden cane.

Archbishop Welby worked in holiday camps in the 1970s and knew Smyth, chairman of the Iwerne Foundation, which funded them.

The review said he died aged 77 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police and “was never brought to justice for the abuse”.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said on Tuesday that the decision to resign, which came after days of pressure following the publication of the report, was in the best interest of the Church.

The church’s National Security Team is reportedly investigating the actions of at least 30 officials named in the report.