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Bishop escaped abuse charges after MPs and royal family intervened, court told
By Sandra Laville
MPs, a lord chief justice, a member of the royal family and public school headmasters all intervened to stop a bishop being prosecuted for sexual abuse 22 years ago, the Old Bailey has heard. Former bishop Peter Ball was jailed for 32 months on Wednesday after admitting last month the sexual abuse of 18 young men between 1977 and 1992 when he was bishop of Lewes. He will serve half the term and then be released on licence, Mr Justice Wilkie said. The judge said he had taken into account the harm he had caused his victims but also testimony from many who had written in support and described his exceptional character. Wilkie said Ball had misused his position to “persuade selected individuals to commit or submit to acts of physical or sexual debasement under the guise of being part of their austere regime of devotion when they were not”. The judge said: “What you did was the antithesis of what was expected of someone holding your office.” Ball escaped justice when his first victim complained in 1992 after interventions from leading figures in the establishment. Instead of being prosecuted he was given a caution. Bobbie Cheema QC prosecuting said: “The police report that accompanied the papers sent to the CPS in 1993 after the police had done their work stated they had received telephone calls supportive of Peter Ball “from many dozens of people – including MPs, former public school headmasters JPs and even a lord chief justice”. She added that a member of the royal family and cabinet ministers also sent letters of support. Ball , 83, was a close friend of the Prince of Wales, who gave him a cottage on his Duchy of Cornwall grounds after he was cautioned in 1993. As a result Ball was never charged with the indecent assault of Neil Todd, who later killed himself. It was only 22 years later that he finally admitted grooming exploiting and abusing vulnerable young men. Cheema said: “He was highly regarded as a godly man who had a special affinity with young people. The truth was that he used those 15 years in the position of bishop to identify, groom and exploit sensitive and vulnerable young men who came within his orbit. “For him, religion was a cloak behind which he hid in order to satisfy his sexual interest in those who trusted him.” Ball is being sentenced on Wednesday. He pleaded guilty to two indecent assaults on two young men and misconduct in public office relating to the abuse of 16 young men in September this year. The abuse suffered by the young men aged between 17 and 20 included attempts to whip and beat them, the court heard. Ball carried out re-baptisms in which he told the young men to strip naked and he was naked. One victim said he saw Ball as a “living Saint”. Ball had previously argued he was not fit to stand trial and that as a bishop he was not the holder of a public office. Both arguments were lost. Cheema also said the then DPP Barbara Mills made the final decision not to charge Ball in 1993 with the sexual abuse of Todd. During the police inquiry six more young men had come forward, the court heard. Ball resigned from his role after accepting the caution in 1993 but the then archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, allowed him to officiate in the church for another three years. Todd killed himself in 2012 after the police reopened an investigation into the years of abuse carried out by Ball. In mitigation, Richard Smith QC said many people still feel “strongly” in support of Ball. He said there was some concern about him being a “scapegoat” and there was “punishment on behalf of the Church”.
He added that Ball’s offences were “very much his dark side”. Smith told the court that a pre-sentence report had highlighted Ball’s “profound and deep” remorse. He said it would be “profoundly wrong” to allow his dark side to eclipse the good work he had done in his life.
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