UNITED KINGDOM
Western Gazette
A BISHOP from the Langport area convicted of sex offences attempted to make a deal with police to avoid a scandal, it has been claimed.
Bishop Peter Ball, formerly of Aller, was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment in October, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one count of misconduct in a public office between 1977 and 1992.
Now documents have come to light which suggest that Ball’s defence team, which included a priest, sought to broker a deal with the police to avoid the “scandal of a trial”.
The documents in question, which were seen by the BBC, were intended only for the eyes of the late Eric Kemp, former bishop of Chichester, and Lord George Carey, then-Archbishop of Canterbury.
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