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Bishop escaped abuse charges after MPs and royal family intervened, court told Bishop escaped abuse charges after MPs and a royal intervened, court told
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MPs, a lord chief justice, a member of the royal family and public school headmasters all intervened to stop a bishop being prosecuted for sexual abuse 22 years ago, the Old Bailey has heard. A member of the royal family, a senior judge, cabinet ministers and public school headmasters all intervened to stop a Church of England bishop being prosecuted for sexual abuse 22 years ago, the Old Bailey has heard.
Former bishop Peter Ball was jailed for 32 months on Wednesday after admitting last month the sexual abuse of 18 young men between 1977 and 1992 when he was bishop of Lewes. The scale of the intervention from senior establishment figures when Peter Ball was first accused in 1993 by a vulnerable young man of sexual exploitation and abuse was revealed for the first time on Wednesday.
He will serve half the term and then be released on licence, Mr Justice Wilkie said. The judge said he had taken into account the harm he had caused his victims but also testimony from many who had written in support and described his exceptional character. Ball, 83, was in court to be sentenced for 15 years of grooming, sexual exploitation and abuse of 18 vulnerable young men aged 17-25, who had come to him for spiritual guidance and inspiration between 1977 and 1992 when he was bishop of Lewes.
Wilkie said Ball had misused his position to “persuade selected individuals to commit or submit to acts of physical or sexual debasement under the guise of being part of their austere regime of devotion when they were not”. Jailing him for two years and eight months, Mr Justice Wilkie said Ball had abused his position as a senior member of the established church. “You pursued selected individuals to commit or submit to acts of physical or sexual debasement under the guise of it being part of an austere regime of devotion,” Wilkie said. “These acts were committed at your suggestion for your own sexual gratication.”
The judge said: “What you did was the antithesis of what was expected of someone holding your office.” Ball, who counted the Prince of Wales as a loyal friend, had first been accused in 1993 by Neil Todd, who had attempted suicide three times as a result of his abuse, and went on to kill himself in 2012.
Ball escaped justice when his first victim complained in 1992 after interventions from leading figures in the establishment. Instead of being prosecuted he was given a caution. The police investigated and six other victims came forward. But support flooded in for Ball from within the establishment and he was never charged. Instead he received a caution for gross indecency, resigned his post as bishop and was allowed to continue officiating at ceremonies for many years by the then archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey.
Bobbie Cheema QC prosecuting said: “The police report that accompanied the papers sent to the CPS in 1993 after the police had done their work stated they had received telephone calls supportive of Peter Ball “from many dozens of people – including MPs, former public school headmasters JPs and even a lord chief justice”. Bobbie Cheema QC, prosecuting, said: “The police report that accompanied the papers sent to the CPS in 1993 after the police had done their work stated they had received telephone calls supportive of Peter Ball ‘from many dozens of people – including MPs, former public school headmasters, JPs and even a lord chief justice’”.
She added that a member of the royal family and cabinet ministers also sent letters of support. She said there were many more letters of support, including from cabinet ministers and a member of the royal family.
Ball , 83, was a close friend of the Prince of Wales, who gave him a cottage on his Duchy of Cornwall grounds after he was cautioned in 1993. After accepting the caution, Ball resigned and was given accommodation in a cottage on the Prince of Wale’s Duchy of Cornwall estate.
As a result Ball was never charged with the indecent assault of Neil Todd, who later killed himself. It was only 22 years later that he finally admitted grooming exploiting and abusing vulnerable young men. The decision not to prosecute Ball was finalised by the then DPP, Barbara Mills, Cheema said.
At the time of the allegations, Ball told other young men in his charge that Todd’s story was “total fantasy” and tried to deter them from coming forward.
Todd’s sister, Mary Mills Knowles, said in a victim impact statement: “Neil had already made three attempts on his life in 1993 before he summoned the courage to speak out … The church wanted to sweep this under the carpet. They had no concern for Neil’s wellbeing. He was very distressed, vulnerable and distraught. He felt nobody believed him.”
He killed himself in 2012 – unable, she said, to bear the weight of what had happened to him when a new police inquiry began.
Ball was arrested and charged after the 2012 investigation. After months in which Ball attempted to avoid justice by pleading unfit to stand trial and arguing his role as a bishop was not a public office he finally admitted his years of offending last month.
He pleaded guity to misconduct in public office relating to the exploitation of 16 young men and two counts of indecent assault on two young men.
The court heard he ran a scheme to encourage young people to give a year of their life to the church, through which he met his victims, many of whom lived in his home.
Cheema said: “He was highly regarded as a godly man who had a special affinity with young people. The truth was that he used those 15 years in the position of bishop to identify, groom and exploit sensitive and vulnerable young men who came within his orbit.Cheema said: “He was highly regarded as a godly man who had a special affinity with young people. The truth was that he used those 15 years in the position of bishop to identify, groom and exploit sensitive and vulnerable young men who came within his orbit.
“For him, religion was a cloak behind which he hid in order to satisfy his sexual interest in those who trusted him.”“For him, religion was a cloak behind which he hid in order to satisfy his sexual interest in those who trusted him.”
Ball is being sentenced on Wednesday. He pleaded guilty to two indecent assaults on two young men and misconduct in public office relating to the abuse of 16 young men in September this year. The court heard the abuse included beatings, and victims who were in his sway were made to strip naked during baptisms in which Ball also was naked. One victim said he saw Ball as a “living saint”.
The abuse suffered by the young men aged between 17 and 20 included attempts to whip and beat them, the court heard. Ball carried out re-baptisms in which he told the young men to strip naked and he was naked. One victim said he saw Ball as a “living Saint”. Another said: “It seemed to be the better-looking boys, we were taken from the chapel and we would then remove all our clothing and be naked in front of the bishop, in front of the altar, in front of God.”
Ball had previously argued he was not fit to stand trial and that as a bishop he was not the holder of a public office. Both arguments were lost. Defending, Richard Smith QC said the offending was part of the former bishop’s “dark side”.
Cheema also said the then DPP Barbara Mills made the final decision not to charge Ball in 1993 with the sexual abuse of Todd. During the police inquiry six more young men had come forward, the court heard. Bishop Paul Butler, lead bishop on safeguarding in the Church of England, said the case was a matter of “deep shame and regret”. “There are no excuses whatsoever for what took place and the systematic abuse of trust perpetrated by Peter Ball over decades,” he said. “We apologise unreservedly to those survivors of Peter Ball’s abuse and pay tribute to their bravery in coming forward.”
Ball resigned from his role after accepting the caution in 1993 but the then archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, allowed him to officiate in the church for another three years. The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has commissioned an independent review of the way the church has handled the case.
Todd killed himself in 2012 after the police reopened an investigation into the years of abuse carried out by Ball.
In mitigation, Richard Smith QC said many people still feel “strongly” in support of Ball. He said there was some concern about him being a “scapegoat” and there was “punishment on behalf of the Church”.
He added that Ball’s offences were “very much his dark side”. Smith told the court that a pre-sentence report had highlighted Ball’s “profound and deep” remorse. It had identified difficulties in serving a prison sentence because of his “physical and emotional needs”.
He said it would be “profoundly wrong” to allow his dark side to eclipse the good work he had done in his life.