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Inquiry to examine how much Church of England knew about sex abuser bishop
By John Bingham
Dame Moira Gibb to oversee behind-closed-doors review in case handling of Peter Ball case in Carey era A new inquiry is to investigate how much senior figures in the Church of England including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey knew about the activities of the sex abuser bishop Peter Ball. It follows claims the Church covered up the full extent of its knowledge of the abuse for two decades. Dame Moira Gibb, a former council chief executive, is to chair an independent review, ordered last year by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, into how the Church of England responded to the case of Ball, who resigned in disgrace as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993. Ball, now 83, was jailed last year after pleading guilty to abusing 18 young men, including teenagers, in Litlington, East Sussex, in the 1970s and 1980s during his time as Bishop of Lewes. Ball accepted a police caution for gross indecency and resigned from his position as Bishop of Gloucester after one victim went to police in the early 1990s. But it meant he avoided more serious charges until the case was finally reopened 20 years later. The Rev Vickery House, Ball’s deputy helping run a Church gap-year scheme for young men testing out a possible “call” to ordination was also jailed for sexual offences in a separate case. It emerged during legal arguments last year that Lord Carey, who was Archbishop when Ball stepped down, personally contacted a senior figure at Crown Prosecution Service asking for assurances over whether the case could “reignite” if other victims came forward. He has since apologised for giving “too much credence” to Ball’s protestations of innocence but strongly denied any “cover-up or collusion”. Details of the review are to be announced on Wednesday but it is understood it will take place behind closed doors. It will look into exactly who how much the Church of England authorities collectively knew about the case at the time, who knew what and when. The inquiry is expected to examine files from Lambeth Palace as well as Ball’s former dioceses. Ball’s eventual conviction last year was the result of a Sussex Police investigation which was itself triggered by a review by the Church. Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, which has campaigned on the issue of clerical abuse, said the inquiry must also investigate allegations that whistleblowers were effectively silenced. "The inquiry is woefully incomplete unless the terms of reference make specific reference to establishing the extent of historic and current bullying by senior figures in the Church of alleged victims and whistleblowers,” he claimed. “This bullying has led to a suicide and considerable psychological harm beyond the abuse itself. “They must also specifically establish the extent to which church officials sought - or encouraged others - to intervene with the CPS, the police and dissuading complainants from reporting to the police. “It is vital that it establishes whether such interventions were made genuinely believing Ball to be innocent, having made a reasonable assessment of all available complaints and evidence. “Parliament has even been told recently by the Church that it believed Ball to be innocent, despite all the complaints.” In a statement read to the Old Bailey during a hearing about the Ball case last year, Lord Carey explained: “I was worried that if any other allegations of past indecency were made it would reignite. “I wanted some reassurance that this would not be the case. “I was so troubled, that evening after dinner I went to my study. “I was supplied with a number of a man at the CPS I believed to be a director. I do not recall his name. “I rang him and asked what might happen if allegations from the past were made. “I was told quite categorically that the other allegations would not be taken further as far as we are concerned.”
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