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The Church Covered up a Catalogue of Abuse, Then Installed a Paedophile Priest, but 30 Years after He Ruined Another Boy's Childhood No-one Has Visited to Say "Sorry"

By Anita Merritt
Devon Live
October 17, 2017

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/cranch-church-paedophile-636067

The Bishop of Exeter is being asked to apologise in person to the congregation of a church where a known paedophile was installed as a vicar.

Rev Peter Cranch was known to have abused boys in Cornwall and Devon in the 1970s before the church moved him to All Saints Church in Exmouth, where he went on to subject a choirboy to a horrific catalogue of abuse, sexually assaulting him hundreds of times.

In 2004, Cranch was sentenced to eight years in prison for serious sexual assaults against the boy. Then aged 57, he was found guilty of six charges of assaulting a male under 16, four of a serious sexual assault and two of indecency with a child. The boy had been attacked over a five-year period between 1985 and 1990 at All Saints. The judge accused him of "stealing his victim's childhood".

Although the then Bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish, apologised for the Church's conduct after Cranch's conviction, no senior clergy have ever appeared in person to apologise to the All Saints' congregation, despite a lengthy campaign by parishioner Graham Martin

Shamed priest Peter Cranch

Mr Martin, of Lympstone, said it was known within the higher ranks of the church that Cranch had a history of sex attacks on boys dating back to the 1970s.

Cranch, who is now living in Cornwall, continued working with children after the Church of England covered up his vile behaviour for more than 20 years.

He was demoted and censured by a secret church court in 1980 after his first conviction and was ordered to have no further contact with children.

He was only defrocked after the victims of assaults came forward in the late 1990s and he was once again convicted, with a two-year suspended sentence in 1999.

At the time of his trial it was suggested that John Richards, who served as Archdeacon of Exeter from 1981 to 1994, may have been investigated for perjury, had he not died, in respect of evidence he previously gave in court about Cranch.

John Richards served as the Archdeacon of Exeter

Richards told Exeter Crown Court in 1999 that he was aware Cranch had abused boys in Callington and Tavistock in the late 1970s. But he failed to declare how an Exmouth mother told him in 1991 that she suspected Cranch had been behaving inappropriately with her son.

The judge, believing Cranch had led a blameless life since the 1970s, gave him a suspended two-year prison sentence.

Police officers said he was aware of an allegation against Cranch of indecency in Exmouth in the early 1990s but did not mention it when he spoke in court in 1999.

But after an internal investigation by Devon & Cornwall Police, an apology was issued.

Richards died at the age of 70 in November 2003, while the offences in Exmouth were being investigated

Graham Martin is asking for the Bishop of Exeter to apologise in person (Image: Matt Austin)

Mr Martin said: “One of the issues the Bishop of Exeter said he was concerned with in his visitation last September was safeguarding.

“However, in the late ‘70s, Peter Cranch, who was then a curate at Tavistock Parish Church, was known to have sexually abused boys but the church kept it quiet.

“They said he would never have a church of his own, but he had a curacy in Heavitree and then they sent him to All Saints in 1981, and he got the opportunity to do it again.

“In January 1991, he suddenly left and we were told he was unwell through overworking and had gone to a monastery in Alton, Hampshire, to recover.”

Cranch was jailed for eight years

However, instead of returning to the church, Cranch became the new vicar of St Sidwell’s Church in Exeter, which had two cub packs.

Towards the end of the ‘90s, a new sexual abuse case over a five-year period at All Saint’s Church against Cranch began to emerge. He was jailed in November 2004, at Bristol Crown Court, for eight years.

Speaking at the time after the case, the then Bishop of Exeter, the Right Reverend Michael Langrish said after the case: "The Church deeply regrets the omissions and actions that led to harm and we both recognise and deplore the suffering of any who have been abused.

"Working with other agencies we seek to learn from experience in order to update understanding and practice."

Following sentencing, the victim told the Express & Echo newspaper: "I'm pleased with the verdicts but the sentence could never be enough considering what I've gone through.

"I'm just relieved all this is over.

"There are a lot of questions that need to be asked of those who have helped Cranch to stay in the church."

All Saint's Church in Exmouth

However, Mr Martin says congregation members at All Saint’s Church never received a personal apology.

He pursued the matter by writing to the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London at Lambeth Palace in London, and received a letter back in 2015 from the then Bishop of Lambeth, Revd Nigel Stock, saying: “You are quite right that the events you record are appalling, as was the way in which the whole matter was dealt with by senior clergy.”

Referring to a lack of apology, he added: “This does seem a matter that is worth drawing to the attention of the current Bishop of Exeter, and I will do so.”

However, still no apology came as he said he was told in 2016 by the Bishop of Exeter Robert Atwell that opening it all up again as it was such a long time ago would be “inappropriate”.

Mr Martin has continued to fight for an apology ever since, but still to no avail.

He said: “When Cranch was convicted, All Saints received no pastoral care from the Bishop of Exeter.

“We were left to deal with the media and 13 and a half years later we have still had no apology. No one has put their hands up because everyone wants to sweep it under the carpet.

“We still have members of the congregation who have been impacted by the abuse. I want the current Bishop of Exeter to come to our church, stand in the pulpit and finally give the apology that is deserved.”

A spokesman for the Diocese of Exeter said: “At the time of Peter Cranch’s conviction, the then Bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish, issued a public statement apologising for the church’s many failures in relation to this case.

The Rt Rev Michael Langrish

“The current Bishop of Exeter, Robert Atwell, quoted from this statement in his recent correspondence with Graham Martin.

"The bishop’s office has since sent the case to be reviewed by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

“The Diocese of Exeter will be guided by the wishes of the survivors in this case before making any further public statements.

“The diocese is absolutely committed to ensuring that its churches are safe and welcoming to all, and that its safeguarding procedures today are rigorous and thorough.”

 

 

 

 

 




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