Dorset-born Bishop Michael Perham Quizzed over Alleged Historical Sex Abuse
By DavidBol
A Dorset-born bishop has been questioned by police over allegations of historical sex abuse. The Bishop of Gloucester, The Right Reverend Michael Perham, was quizzed over the claims, dating back more than 30 years. Days after standing down for “personal reasons”, the Dorchester native was quizzed about allegations that he had abused a girl under 18 and a woman. Speculation had been mounting since the Bishop resigned on Friday as the cathedral prepared for a series of First World War centenary services. Now it has emerged that officers probing historic allegations of indecent assault had arranged to speak to the married father-of-four on a voluntary basis. The investigation is being run by the Metropolitan Police Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command. A Met spokesman said: “A 66-year-old man attended a police station in Gloucestershire by appointment and was interviewed on suspicion of indecent assault of a child aged under 18 and indecent assault of a second female aged over 18. He was not arrested. The alleged incidents are said to have occurred between 1980 and 1981. Inquiries continue.” A spokesman for the Diocese in Gloucester said: “This is a police matter. We have no further comment to make at this point.” Around the time of the alleged offences in the early 1980s, the Oxford-educated Bishop was just starting out on his church career and was curate at St Mary’s Addington in Croydon, his first full time post. The clergyman was in Croydon from 1976 until 1981, when he moved to become chaplain at Winchester Cathedral, prior to taking up positions in Poole and Derby. The high ranking churchman, one of 26 sitting in the House of Lords, was also secretary to the Church of England Doctrine Commission from 1979 to 1984. He is married to Dr Alison Grove, a palliative care consultant, and the couple have four grown-up daughters. At the time of Friday’s shock announcement he had already announced his decision to retire after ten years as the Bishop of Gloucester and was due to leave on his 67th birthday, November 8, after undertaking a pilgrimage around the diocese. He is known within the Church of England as a vocal supporter of gay marriage and female clergy and his successor has been widely tipped to be the UK’s first woman bishop. Personal reasons were cited for the sudden decision and the Dean of Gloucester stepped in to lead a special high-profile service of commemoration for the First World War at Gloucester Cathedral on Sunday. The Bishop of Tewkesbury, Right Rev Martyn Snow, is to take over Bishop Perham’s duties. Born in 1947, the Bishop attended Hardye’s School, Dorchester, and read theology at Keble College, Oxford before attending Cuddesdon College. He was made a deacon in 1976 and priest in 1977 and has served in six full time posts in the Church of England. He was appointed Bishop of Gloucester in 2004. Alongside these ministries, he has filled many roles in the Church of England nationally and served on the Archbishops’ Commission on Church Music that produced the key report, In Tune with Heaven, in 1992. He was a member of the Crown Nominations Commission that chose the new Archbishop of Canterbury in 2012 but is also known for his work on the worship. Locally he is pro-chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire, vice chair of the University Council and president or patron of a number of organisations and charities, including GARAS, GEAR, Cheltenham YMCA, the Star College and Emmaus Gloucester. As a member of the House of Bishops’ standing committee in the Lords, he serves on the working party reviewing the Church of England’s teaching on human sexuality. Earlier this year he distanced himself from the House of Bishops’ statement on same-sex marriage, saying they underestimated how uncompromising and hurtful the statement felt to some. In May he wrote: “We need to listen very carefully to the beliefs and opinions that come out of a profound change of attitudes in our society to gender, sexuality and marriage. “We need to listen very carefully to the experience of gay and lesbian people, both those who are celibate and those who are in sexual relationships, including gay and lesbian clergy. “We need to listen, in some cases, to their pain, and we need also to listen to their sense of joy, love and blessing in a faithful partnership. We need to listen very carefully to what the world and medicine and science can tell us about homosexuality.” In March this year, a former Bishop of Gloucester, The Right Reverend Peter Ball, was charged over separate sex abuse allegations. He appeared in court for the first time in May at Taunton Magistrates, facing allegations that he molested eight boys and young men aged between 12 and their early 20s. The abuse is alleged to have occurred during the 1970s and 1980s. He was summoned to appear at Brighton Magistrates court last month, but was too ill to appear. Mr Ball was due to appear at an unnamed crown court on Friday, August 1. He is thought to be the highest-ranking clergyman in the Church of England to be arrested over allegations of child abuse. The Bishop of Gloucester, The Right Reverend Michael Perham was questioned yesterday over allegations of sex abuse dating back more than 30 years.
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