UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph
A bishop who sexually abused young men escaped justice thanks to a “deeply sinister, co-ordinated” cover-up, one of his victims has said.
Former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after pleading guilty to historical sex offences, but he had been originally investigated and cautioned by police in 1993.
Documents seen by the BBC suggest that his defence team in the first investigation sought a deal with the police to avoid scandal as the bishop was “friendly with Prince Charles”.
The Rev Graham Sawyer, one of the men abused by Ball, told the BBC: “It looks like there was a deeply sinister, co-ordinated, but probably in the end rather inept attempt at a cover-up.”
After Ball was sentenced, Lord Carey, who was the head of the Church of England when it emerged that the bishop had misused his power over teenagers and young men, apologised for dealing with his victims “inadequately” but denied presiding over a cover-up.
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