Sexual abuse victim's call for ex-bishop case inquiry

By Joel Adams
Argus
July 14, 2016

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/14618441.Sexual_abuse_victim_s_call_for_ex_bishop_case_inquiry/

Former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball

POLICE should investigate the actions of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, according to a survivor of sexual abuse.

Graham Sawyer, who was subjected to sexual assault by the former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball in the 1980s, made the call following revelations that information regarding Ball’s offending was not passed to police.

Newly unearthed documents indicate that Lambeth Palace, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, received six letters following Ball’s caution in 1992 revealing Ball encouraged victims to pray naked, perform sex acts in front of him, and share his bed.

Mr Sawyer told The Argus: “I hope the police are looking into the possibility of opening an investigation regarding Lord Carey as to whether he might be guilty of misconduct in a public office.”

Mr Sawyer said he was not surprised by these further revelations, saying they represented further evidence of a cover up at Lambeth Palace.

Officials reviewing the letters in 2009 made notes that had such evidence been given to detectives in 1993, Ball may have been convicted of serious sexual offences rather than cautioned.

But the letters were kept by Lambeth Palace and not shared until 2012 when the Church released documents to police.

The documents also indicate Ball associated with other sex offenders in the clergy and that he was investigated in 2008 for being part of a suspected paedophile ring.

The police files also suggest Ball covered for and helped other priests accused of sex abuse, including accusations that in 1978 he failed to take appropriate action against a priest who abused a child and went on to abuse others.

They also allege that in 1985 Ball let a priest who had abused a 14-year-old boy stay in his home after the man’s release from prison, and that as late as 2009 he tried to persuade a teenage boy to apologise to a priest who had allegedly abused him.

In October last year, Ball, now 84, was sentenced to 32 months in jail after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office and indecent assaults on a total of 18 young men between 1977 and 1992.

At the time of Ball’s trial last year Lord Carey denied accusation that his correspondence with the Crown Prosecution Service at the time of Ball’s 1992 caution amounted to attempts to cover up for the Bishop.