UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Standard
PAUL CHESTON Tuesday 8 September 2015
A former Church of England bishop today pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to sex crimes dating back nearly 40 years.
Peter Ball, 83, the former Bishop of Lewes in East Sussex and Bishop of Gloucester, admitted misconduct in public office between 1977 and 1992.
He is said to have “misused his position and authority to manipulate and to prevail upon others for his own sexual gratification.”
Ball also pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a man aged 19 to 20 between 1980 and 1982 and a man over 16 between 1990 and 1991.
However he denied further charges of indecent assault on a boy then aged between 12 and 13 in 1978 and on a boy under 16 between 1984 and 1985.
These not guilty pleas were accepted by prosecutor Bobbie Cheema QC and they were left to lie on the file.
Ms Cheema told the court there had been a great deal of communication between prosecutors and the defence that had resulted in the pleas.
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