Bishop Peter Ball Case "Should Be Part of Child Sex Abuse Inquiry"

By Sandra Laville
The Guardian
October 9, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/09/bishop-peter-ball-case-goddard-child-sex-abuse-inquiry

Peter Ball, 83, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

The partner of a man who killed himself after being abused by a Church of England bishop is calling for the decision not to prosecute him 22 years ago to be investigated by the Goddard inquiry into institutional child sex abuse.

Neil Todd, the original complainant against Bishop Peter Ball in the 1990s, took his own life aged 38 after a new police investigation into Ball began in 2012.

Todd’s partner Marc Hawley, who lives in Australia, said on Friday that the Ball case must be investigated in public hearings to be run by a forthcoming inquiry led by Dame Lowell Goddard.

Hawley said: “Neil, my soul partner of 20 years, was taken from me at a far too early an age due to the heinous crimes committed against him by a man called Peter Ball, who hid behind his religious position to acquire young men and boys for his own sexual gratification.”

Hawley questioned the jail sentence handed down to 83-year-old Ball on Wednesday – two years and eight months – for 15 years of sexual exploitation, abuse and grooming of young men who came into his orbit while he was the bishop of Lewes.

“I am more than glad that Peter Ball now resides at Her Majesty’s pleasure even though the sentence is far too lenient for the gravity of his activities,” said Hawley. “Once again Neil has fallen foul of the judicial system, my heart goes out to all the abused who will not now be heard.

“I dearly hope that the independent inquiry that is about to commence will bring all – high and low – to face justice.”

Peter Ball (right), pictured with his twin brother Michael, also a priest, in 1980. Photograph: Getty Images

Hawley said his partner Todd – who moved to Australia to build a new life after the authorities failed to prosecute Ball in 1993 – was a religious man who “did nothing except want to pledge his life to God but fell foul of the filthy devil incarnate”.

Any investigation by the Goddard team during open hearings will have to examine whether support for Ball from leading figures in the establishment – including MPs, a senior judge, cabinet ministers, a member of the royal family, and public school headmasters – contributed to the decision not to charge him with indecently assaulting Todd in 1993.

After Todd reported the sexual abuse to the police, six other young men came forward to testify of similar sexual exploitation by Ball. But despite what the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said at the time was “sufficient, admissable, substantial and reliable evidence” of indecent assault and gross indecency, Ball was issued only with a police caution.

The identities of those who came to Ball’s support in 1993 have never been disclosed. On Wednesday, Clarence House issued a denial that the Prince of Wales had ever intervened in the court process in relation to Ball.

The CPS said on Friday it had “not received any correspondence, nor seen any correspondence to others, from any member of the royal family. The information we hold does not indicate any interference in the case by the Prince of Wales.”

Ball resigned as bishop of Gloucester in 1993 after accepting the caution for gross indecency but was allowed by the then archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, to continue officiating within the church for many years.

During 1993 and 1994 it is understood there was a great deal of communication and dialogue between Ball and the Prince of Wales, whom Ball counted as a loyal friend.

Ball rented a cottage on the prince’s duchy of Cornwall estate, and delivered the address at the funeral of the Duchess of Cornwall’s father, Major Bruce Shand, in 2006.

The Guardian understands that in 2011, while the Church of England was in the midst of investigating child abuse in the diocese of Chichester, of which Lewes was part, Ball approached Charles for a character reference but was turned down.

At the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Ball was jailed for two years and eight months after admitting misconduct in public office relating to the exploitation, grooming and abuse of 16 young men, and two counts of indecent assault on two other young men.

• In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.