Church of England Appoints Lord Carlile to Review George Bell Claim

By Harriet Sherwood
The Guardian
November 23, 2016

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/23/church-of-england-appoints-lord-carlile-to-review-george-bell-claim

‘I wouldn’t have taken this on if I didn’t feel there was a genuine will to accept my report,’ said Lord Carlile. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

The Church of England has appointed Alex Carlile to conduct an independent review of its handling of a sexual abuse claim against George Bell, one of the church’s leading figures of the 20th century.

In September 2015, the church issued a formal apology when settling a civil claim against Bell, the former bishop of Chichester who died in 1958. The alleged abuse took place in the 1940s and 1950s.

The apology and payment of compensation to a woman, known as Carol, sparked protests by Bell’s supporters, who claimed the church had acted without sufficient evidence.

In setting out the review’s terms of reference on Tuesday, the church said it would examine the processes surrounding the allegations which were first brought in 1995 to the diocese of Chichester, and to Lambeth Palace in 2013.

“It will also consider the processes, including the commissioning of independent expert reports and archival and other investigations, which were used to inform the decision to settle the case, in order to learn lessons that can applied to the handling of similar safeguarding cases in future,” said a church statement.

Bell, who was bishop of Chichester for 29 years and sat in the House of Lords, was once tipped as possible archbishop of Canterbury. However, his outspoken opposition to the bombing of German civilians by the RAF during the second world war was thought to have counted against him with the establishment, while winning him the respect and admiration of others.

Last year, the current bishop of Chichester, the Right Rev Martin Warner, wrote to Carol to apologise for the church’s “devastating betrayal of trust” in regard to her claims of being abused as a small child. The diocese of Chichester’s response when she first came forward with allegations in 1995 “fell a long way short, not just of what is expected now, but of what we appreciate you should have had a right to expect then”, Warner wrote.

Carol, now in her 70s, subsequently said she had struggled all her life with feelings of guilt and responsibility for the alleged abuse. The church paid her ?15,000 in compensation.

The George Bell Group, made up of academics, lawyers and church figures, challenged the church over its “condemnation [of Bell] as a paedophile”. In a report of its own investigation into Carol’s claims, it said: “The valuable reputation of a great man, a rare example of self-sacrificing human goodness, has been carelessly destroyed on the basis of slender evidence, sloppily investigated.”

Lord Carlile, a former leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and MP for Montgomeryshire from 1983 to 1997, said he would look at all material documentation and evidence placed before him.

“I wouldn’t have taken this on if I didn’t feel there was a genuine will to accept my report and implement any useful recommendations,” he told the Guardian. Regarding the date of the alleged abuse, he added: “The fact that something is not recent doesn’t mean you are unable to reach a satisfactory conclusion. It depends on the quality of the evidence.”

The Very Rev Martyn Percy, dean of Christ Church, Oxford and a member of the George Bell Group, welcomed Carlile’s appointment. “We hope the review will take a full account of the processes that led to a settlement with claimant, more than 50 years after Bishop Bell’s death. Moreover, this review, to be fair and thorough, must also fully engage with all the evidence that has come to light since this settlement was made – as this clearly calls into question the veracity of claimant’s account of events.”

Peter Hitchens, the Mail on Sunday columnist who has championed Bell over the past year, said: “The language of the terms of reference referring almost entirely to the ‘complainant’ rather than using the prejudicial term ‘survivor’ is a big step forward.”

He added: “Above all I hope the report concludes that George Bell was wrongly convicted in his absence and without due process.”

The Right Rev Peter Hancock, the church’s lead bishop on safeguarding, said: “As with all serious cases, there are always lessons to be learnt. The Church of England takes all safeguarding issues very seriously and we will continue to listen to everyone affected in this case while we await the findings of the review. The diocese of Chichester continues to be in touch and offer support to the survivor known as Carol, who brought the allegations.”

Carlile is expected to complete his review by the end of the summer, and an executive summary will be published.

The diocese of Chichester’s responses to allegations made against Bell and other sexual abuse cases are also being examined by the official inquiry into child sexual abuse.