UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Madeleine Davies

Posted: 18 Jul 2014

A MAN who was abused as a choirboy, Phil Johnson, has added his voice to the criticism of Baroness Butler-Sloss, who resigned on Monday from chairing the Government’s inquiry into historical allegations of child-abuse in institutions.

Mr Johnson met Lady Butler-Sloss at the House of Lords in 2011, after she had been appointed by the diocese of Chichester to review its handling of abuse allegations. That review centred on abuse perpetrated by two priests: Roy Cotton and Colin Pritchard. Mr Cotton died in 2006, and Mr Pritchard was jailed for five years in 2008 (News, 1 August 2008).

On Friday, Mr Johnson told the BBC that he had also made allegations about a former Bishop of Lewes, the Rt Revd Peter Ball. He alleged that Lady Butler-Sloss had told him that, if she included the Bishop’s name in…