UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus
Joel Adams, Reporter / Argus_JoelA
A PORTRAIT of a wartime bishop which was taken down after revelations that he had sexually abused a five-year-old girl has been rehung by a city council.
A portrait of George Bell, who was the leader of the Church of England in Sussex, was removed from its place above the staircase in Chichester City Council’s offices following a shocking formal apology issued last October by current Bishop Martin Warner to the victim, who was also given a five figure settlement.
But the portrait of the former Bishop of Chichester, who died in 1958, has now been rehung in a prominent location by the main entrance of the building in North Street, Chichester, following an impromptu meeting of the property subcommittee of the city council led by Tony Dignum, who is also Leader of the District Council.
Cllr Dignum said: “Back last October when the matter arose the clerk rightly said we do have a risk of vandalism, so for security reasons we took it down.”
He added: “We have been very mindful of the work done by Andrew Chandler [Bell’s biographer and a leading voice calling for his rehabilitation] and I felt he made a very strong case that the church had acted very hastily in condemning Bell and that natural justice had not been observed.
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