In 2004, a church tribunal found Shearman guilty of misconduct for sexually abusing a schoolgirl while serving as a boarding master at an Anglican hostel in Forbes, New South Wales, in the 1950s.
On 25 August 2004, Shearman became the first member of the clergy in the Anglican Church of Australia to be removed from holy orders as a result of that finding.
After World War II service with the Royal Australian Air Force he studied for the priesthood at St John's Theological College, Morpeth.
After two years as chairman of the Australian Board of Missions[9] he became Bishop of Grafton in 1973, serving until 1985.
Shearman was the subject of a submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.