UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail
By TOM KELLY FOR THE DAILY MAIL
A predatory bishop escaped prosecution for sex abuse for 22 years after leading Establishment figures told police and prosecutors he was a ‘saint’.
Two Archbishops of Canterbury, Tory MPs – including David Cameron’s godfather – a senior judge and public school headmasters mounted an extraordinary campaign to protect Peter Ball after he was accused of molesting a teenage novice monk in 1993.
In letters to police chiefs and the Director of Public Prosecutions they variously complained that the allegations had caused the bishop ‘excruciating pain’ and claimed it was ‘literally inconceivable’ that he could have committed the offences.
Twelve letters have been released following requests under the Freedom of Information Act – which has exposed numerous scandals but which is threatened by a government review set up after ministers claimed the law is ‘too costly’ to administer.
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