UNITED KINGDOM
The Daily Beast
Nico Hines
LONDON — An extraordinary elite-level cover-up that included a member of the royal family, Cabinet ministers and judges conspired to keep a pedophile bishop safe from prosecution and free to continue abusing boys.
Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes, was finally convicted Wednesday for decades of sexual crimes against boys and young men that date back into the 1970s.
The accusations first emerged in the early 1990s but detectives investigating the case were bombarded by calls of support for the bishop from Members of Parliament, former school headmasters, judges and a Lord.
Further support from the establishment arrived in the mail, with more than 2,000 letters including references from Cabinet ministers and one member of the Royal family.
The Royal concerned has not been named, but Ball has described Prince Charles as “a loyal friend.”
The future King of England had been at the ceremony when Ball was appointed Bishop of Gloucester, and he allowed him to retire to a wisteria-clad lodge on one of his estates when a first round of sex abuse allegations forced his resignation.
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