UNITED KINGDOM
Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review
Thursday, 22 June 2017 By Mark Elson
THE Bishop of Gloucester, the Right Rev Rachel Treweek, says she is “greatly shocked and distressed” by the findings of an independent report into disgraced church leader Peter Ball.
‘An Abuse of Faith’, produced by Dame Moira Gibb, claims that senior figures in the Church of England “colluded” to cover up evidence of former Gloucester bishop Ball’s abuse of boys as young as 12.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey is among those criticised in the report, which was commissioned by the church after Ball was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 for misconduct in public office and indecent assault. Ball was freed last February having served 16 months.
He was first reported to Gloucester Police by novice monk Neil Todd and others in 1992, but no charges were brought against him after police reportedly received supportive phone calls from MPs, former public school headmasters, magistrates and even a Lord Chief Justice.
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