UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times
by Madeleine Davies
TWO retired priests have been arrested, after an investigation into allegations of child abuse in the diocese of Chichester.
Canon Gordon Rideout was arrested on Tuesday at his home near Eastbourne, on suspicion of sexual assaults committed against nine young people in Crawley, West Sussex; Barkingside, in north-east London; and Middle Wallop, Hampshire, between 1965 and 1972.
On the same morning, Robert Coles, a former parish priest, was arrested at his home in Eastbourne on suspicion of sexual assaults against three young men in West Sussex during the late 1970s and mid-1980s.
Sussex Police have been investigating allegations of abuse for six months, after they received a confidential review of allegations against Church of England priests, conducted by Baroness Butler-Sloss (News, 27 May, 22 July 2011). Although several of the allegations had previously been reported to the police, there was insufficient evidence to justify prosecution at those times, Sussex Police said.
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