Judge to Decide Whether Bishop Accused of Sex Assault Crimes Will Stand Trial

By Sandra Laville
The Guardian
May 1, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/01/judge-to-decide-whether-bishop-accused-of-sex-assault-crimes-will-stand-trial

Peter Ball, former bishop of Lewes. The charges against him include misconduct in public office. Photograph: PA

A judge will determine in open court whether an elderly former bishop is fit to stand trial for alleged sex crimes dating back 40 years.

Peter Ball, 83, was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service two years ago with sexually assaulting boys and young men in the 1970s and 80s, around the time when he was bishop of Lewes. He is due to face trial in October but his ill health could mean that he does not face prosecution.

The charges against him include misconduct in public office between October 1977 and December 1992; indecent assault on a boy then aged between 12 and 13 in 1978; and the same offence against a man aged 19 to 20 between 1980 and 1982.

He is also charged with indecent assault on a man over 16 between 1990 and 1991 in Berwick, East Sussex, and on a boy under 16 between 1984 and 1985, in Litlington.

Ball has yet to enter pleas on any charges.

At the Old Bailey in London on Friday, Mr Justice Sweeney said the trial had been allocated to Mr Justice Wilkie and it would be up to him to determine Ball’s fitness to stand trial.

Ball, also the former bishop of Gloucester, was arrested in November 2012 near his home in Langport, Somerset. He is the most senior Church of England clergyman to face trial for child sex abuse charges.

He has been bailed to an address in East Sussex.