UNITED KINGDOM
Times & Star
By Phil Coleman
Caldbeck villagers have spoken of their shock after learning how a former Bishop of Carlisle saddled them with a vicar who admitted sexually abusing children.
Related: Bishop of Carlisle’s apology for sex case vicar
Former Carlisle Cathedral canon Ronald Johns is awaiting sentence for a string of child sex crimes.
Justice finally caught up with him at the city’s crown court last month, when he pleaded guilty to 10 offences against three boys between 1983 and 1991.
In a highly unusual move this week, the current Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Reverend James Newcome, offered a personal apology for how the church handled the affair, particularly the failure of the late Bishop Ian Harland, who was Johns’ boss, to report the abuse to the police.
In a letter to church officials sent out this week, Richard Pratt, the Archdeacon of West Cumberland, spelled out the depth of the failure.
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