UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post
Tuesday 08 September 2015
An ex-bishop who abused 18 young men and aspiring priests over 30 years has finally admitted his guilt after a last-ditch effort to throw his case out on the word of a former Archbishop of Canterbury failed.
Former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball, 83, used religion as a “cloak” to manipulate his victims, many of whom were in their teens, after they came to his home to explore their spirituality.
In 1993, he accepted a caution in relation to one young man and resigned his post, believing the matter was closed despite police being aware of two more complaints.
But in 2012, prompted by a Church of England review, Sussex Police reopened the case and last year charged him with a string of sex offences against teenage boys and young men who had gone to his former home in Litlington, East Sussex.
Earlier this year, Mr Justice Sweeney refused to dismiss the case on a legal technicality after it emerged Ball and former archbishop Lord Carey had been assured in 1993 that there would be no future action once he accepted the caution.
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