I didn’t know bishop was a paedophile, Prince Charles protests, by Sean O’neill, Times (July 19, 2018)

Prince of Wales maintained a close friendship with a disgraced bishop because he did not understand that the clergyman’s caution for gross indecency involved an admission of guilt, he has told a public inquiry.

Prince Charles said that he maintained contact with Peter Ball for more than 20 years until his conviction in 2015 for sexually abusing more than a dozen victims. Ball had to resign his ministry in 1993 after a police investigation into his abuse of boys and young men led to him accepting a caution.

The written statement to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which has been seen by The Times, is described as a draft. It will be made public next week. The prince, who gave the…