Bishop at centre of Jersey Dean scandal steps down over financial dispute

Tuesday 20 July 2021

The Bishop at the centre of one of the biggest crises that the Anglican Church has faced in Jersey has stepped down from his role in the wake of a bitter dispute about finances.

Dr Tim Dakin, the Bishop of Winchester, announced recently that he would be immediately handing over his responsibilities and officially retiring in February.

He had already stepped aside after up to 30 senior priests and lay members said they would pass a vote of no confidence in his leadership at the next diocesan synod.

Bishop Dakin played a significant role in the severing of Jersey's 500-year-old relationship with the Diocese of Winchester.

In 2013, he suspended the then Dean of Jersey, the Very Rev Bob Key, after a report from the diocese concluded that there had been safeguarding failures in relation to a complaint by a vulnerable adult in 2008.

The complaint concerned the alleged abusive behaviour of a churchwarden.

The suspension opened a deep schism between the island and diocese of Winchester, which Jersey and Guernsey had been part of since 1569.

In 2000, the Channel Islands’ historic link with Winchester formally ended and the deaneries of Jersey and Guernsey were transferred to Salisbury.

In a statement announcing his retirement, Bishop Dakin said: “The last 18 months have brought enormous pressures to bear on us all, individually, as a country, within our families and communities, and as a Diocese. 

“The painfully difficult financial decisions made over the last year have caused real anguish. In trying to secure a sustainable future for the growth of the Diocese, it is clear that I’ve not done enough to acknowledge what we have lost in this process. 

“To those I’ve hurt or let down, I am sorry.”

The Bishop of Southampton, Debbie Sellin, will continue to carry out Bishop Dakin's duties.