(UNITED KINGDOM)
ITV News [London, UK]
February 26, 2026
Senior clerics in the Church in Wales knew a vicar was accused of sexually assaulting a child, but did not act and still allowed him to be promoted to Bishop of Brecon and Swansea, according to a critical review.
An independent review commissioned by the Church found that several members did not act and did not follow up on concerns when an allegation of sexual assault was made against the former Bishop, Anthony Pierce, in 1993.
The review says the Church’s handling of Pierce’s case at the time was “wholly inappropriate and inadequate”.
Among those referenced in the review are several Archbishops of Wales, including John Davies, Barry Morgan and Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
Those most seriously criticised in the 131-page document include Bishop Dewi Bridges, Archdeacon Brian James, Archdeacon Wynford Rees and former Archbishop of Wales Alwyn Rice Jones, all of whom have since died.
The allegations against Pierce only came to light last year when he was jailed after admitting to sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16 while working as a parish priest at Holy Cross Church in Swansea.
The Church in Wales says, “This catalogue of failures can only be a source of shame for the Church and will have caused further trauma to abuse victims and their families.
“While the safeguarding processes of the Church in Wales have improved immeasurably since the periods covered by the Review, there is no room for complacency.”
According to the independent review, Pierce is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 15 or 16-year-old boy in or around 1990.
The boy’s mother reported the assault to Bishop Dewi Bridges and Archdeacon Wynford Rees three years later.
During a subsequent meeting with Dewi Bridges, Pierce offered to resign. The resignation was refused, and the allegations were later described as “unsubstantiated”. In 1995, Dewi Bridges promoted Pierce to Archdeacon of Gower.
In 1999, Pierce was elected as Bishop of Swansea and Brecon. At this point, the review says more evidence surfaced. Archbishop Alwyn Rice Jones and Archdeacon Brian James received a formal letter of complaint from the 16-year-old’s mother.
A 30-page handwritten document written by a friend of Pierce’s detailing an admission was also hand-delivered to Alwyn Rice Jones in February 1999.
Alwyn Rice Jones did nothing with these documents. He regarded it as “a bit of a hiccup and as evidence of homosexuality, not paedophilia and that this was a blip and it should just be put to one side”.
Please see original article for timeline.
The review found that former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was given a copy of the handwritten report containing information about Anthony Pierce when he became Archbishop of Wales in 2000.
According to the review, Alwyn Rice Jones had given Rowan Williams the 1999 report “for safekeeping,” and that “should any further questions arise about [Pierce’s] history, the contents might help.”
Bishop Williams told the review he didn’t read the report at the time and wasn’t aware of its contents. Although he took the report with him to Lambeth as part of his personal papers when he became Archbishop of Canterbury.
It was not passed on to his successor as Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, meaning key safeguarding information was not available in Wales for nearly 10 years.
The review says the former Archbishop did not know the contents of the handwritten report.
Rowan Williams told ITV News he “had no indication at all of its containing a serious admission of guilt”. He said: “I accept that it was an error to take it with me to Lambeth when I moved, rather than immediately passing it to my successor or checking that he had access to it.”
The former Archbishop of Canterbury added: “I am very conscious that [Anthony Pierce’s] victims and their families will feel that the processes of the Church did not adequately protect them at that time, and am very sorry indeed for any ways in which I contributed to this, however inadvertently.”
The former Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, was also criticised in the independent review. He became the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in 2008 and the Archbishop in 2017.
The review found that, in 2009, he knew there had been a safeguarding allegation made against Pierce in 1993, and 1999. He knew Pierce had admitted to doing something “improper”, but stated he was “satisfied” the matter had been dealt with.
John Davies didn’t initially refer the allegation to an ongoing historic cases review and delayed referring it for a year. A year later, Bishop Davies referred allegations, and Pierce had his ‘permission to officiate’ removed.
Seventeen years after the allegation was first made, the Church referred the allegation to the police.
However, South Wales Police were unable to investigate because the alleged victim had died. Last year, South Wales Police told ITV News: “Sadly, in this specific case, the victim had passed away in 2010 when allegations were made of abuse taking place in 1993 […] Therefore we are not able to progress the investigation”.
In 2011, Bishop Davies reinstated Pierce’s permissions, “without seeking prior advice from a safeguarding professional”. The reviewer says John Davies was “very reluctant to take any responsibility” for this decision.
The review continues, “the language of the letter suggested that [Pierce] had not been involved in any misconduct, when the probability of an indecent act having taken place between a 50 year old man and a 15/16 year old child was still very high.”
It also accuses John Davies of using an inappropriate tone in further correspondence with Pierce.
Bishop Davies told ITV News, “I received no advice or guidance from either its Safeguarding professionals or anyone else at the Church in Wales to take any further action once the police and ISA had made their decisions nor did I know that this option was open to me. I considered it reasonable to reinstate the permission.”
He added, “I would unreservedly express my utter abhorrence of what Pierce did, and my personal sorrow for the suffering which has been caused.
“I am certain that today’s safeguarding procedures and processes are significantly more robust than in the past.”
The review concludes that because these historical weaknesses were so severe, the Church must implement mandatory safeguarding vetting for all future bishop and archdeacon candidates before they are even nominated.
The current Archbishop of Wales, Cherry Vann, told ITV News: “The welfare of the victims of sexual abuse must always be our paramount concern, and we offer our most heartfelt apologies to those who have been failed by the Church in the past.
“The Review shows in painful detail the missed opportunities, the harmful assumptions and the inadequate processes which characterised the Church’s response to these allegations of abuse for far too long.
“This catalogue of failures can only be a source of shame for the Church and will have caused further trauma to abuse victims and their families.
“While the safeguarding processes of the Church in Wales have improved immeasurably since the periods covered by the Review, there is no room for complacency, and we are committed to ensuring that our processes always follow current best practice.”