CAROL STREAM (IL)
Christianity Today
July 5, 2019
The Bishop of Chester blocked a life-time ban from ministry being imposed on a minister who was jailed for child pornography, an independent inquiry has heard.
It emerged during a public hearing by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that the Rt Rev Dr Peter Forster recommended that Rev Ian Hughes should instead receive a 20-year ban.
This was despite the Church of England’s own regulations – called the Clergy Discipline Measure – stating that a lifetime ban should be automatically imposed on ministers with child abuse convictions.
The shorter length recommended by the bishop received the approval of the President of the Tribunals after Dr Forster wrote to ask that the guidelines not be applied in this instance.
Mr Hughes was sent to prison for 12 months in 2014 over child pornography charges after he was found to have 8,200 indecent images of children in his possession.
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