Ex-church of England Bishop Peter Ball, 83, Admits Sex Crimes Dating Back Four Decades

By Paul Cheston
Evening Standard
September 8, 2015

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/ex-church-of-england-bishop-peter-ball-83-admits-sex-crimes-dating-back-four-decades-a2942801.html

Disgraced bishop: Peter Ball admitted sex crimes dating back 40 years PA

A former Church of England bishop today pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to sex crimes dating back nearly 40 years.

Peter Ball, 83, the former Bishop of Lewes in East Sussex and Bishop of Gloucester, admitted misconduct in public office between 1977 and 1992.

He is said to have "misused his position and authority to manipulate and to prevail upon others for his own sexual gratification."

Ball also pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a man aged 19 to 20 between 1980 and 1982 and a man over 16 between 1990 and 1991.

However he denied further charges of indecent assault on a boy then aged between 12 and 13 in 1978 and on a boy under 16 between 1984 and 1985.

These not guilty pleas were accepted by prosecutor Bobbie Cheema QC and they were left to lie on the file.

Ms Cheema told the court there had been a great deal of communication between prosecutors and the defence that had resulted in the pleas.

She said that as a result of the guilty pleas the Crown felt a trial on the remaining charges was not required in the public interest.

For the first time it can be revealed that prosecutors and the police - with the knowledge of the then archbishop of Canterbury George Carey - allowed Ball to escape criminal charges when allegations against him first arose 22 years ago.

Victims first came forward in 1993 to say they had been abused but it was decided to caution the bishop rather than charge him.

Yet CPS lawyers had said there was "sufficient admissible, substantial and reliable evidence" of indecent assault and gross indecency.

Ball, of Aller, near Langport in Somerset, appeared in court as a frail and faltering figure via a videolink from Taunton.

He was Bishop of Lewes between 1977 and 1992 and Bishop of Gloucester from 1992 until 1993.

Mr Justice Wilkie had been due to rule later this year whether Ball was fit enough to stand trial.

He was granted bail and will now sentence the bishop on October 7.

Ball was charged in March last year after an investigation by Sussex police.

Until now Ball had been best known for being the identical twin brother of another bishop, Michael who was suffragan Bishop of Jarrow from 1980 to 1990 and Bishop of Truro from 1990 to 1997.

The two twins founded a monastic community, the Community of the Glorious Ascension, and Peter was appointed prior until his promotion to bishop.

He was only the second Anglican bishop since the Reformation to be consecrated as a member of a religious order in a monastic habit.