Pictured above: 2006 Peter Ball former Bishop of Lewes with his good friends Prince Charles and Camilla at a memorial for her father Bruce Shand
Paedophile Peter Ball remained a confidant of Prince Charles right up until 2012
30 July 2016
Disgraced bishop, friend to members of the royal family, jailed for a string of sex offences, Peter Ball has been given public funding for a legal team at the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry.
The decision to pay for lawyers, costing taxpayers up to £200 an hour, to defend the reputation of Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester and of Lewes, has outraged his victims.
Ball is the first convicted sex offender to be granted taxpayer funds, setting a precedent that could pave the way for dozens of paedophiles to get the same deal.
He received the legal funding because he “may be subject to explicit criticism by the inquiry”.
A lawyer close to the inquiry said: “I was really surprised Ball was given funding. The issue is about how he was allowed to get away with it by the Church not about his offending. He has already been investigated and pleaded guilty.”
Richard Scorer: My clients accept the PoW has many interactions with Church of England clergy. However our clients do not accept that he claims he was not aware that a caution means an acceptance of guilt.
Scorer claims senior leaders in the Church knew of Peter Ball’s offending but Lambeth Palace did not hand over letters to police:http://ow.ly/M5yK30l4wJe
Mr William Chapman: There’s a reluctance to trust the secular authorities to handle the matter and a willingness to forgive and reintegrate Peter Ball, no matter what he’d done
Elizabeth Hall, Nat Safeguarding Advisor, recommending a further review of Peter Ball information which should involve trying to find all files/documents
Both Michael Ball and brother Peter Ball were not shy about using the name of the Prince of Wales to seek to influence others. Bishop Michael Ball wrote to Lord Carey in Dec 1992 saying that his brother was receiving support from 2 Cabinet Ministers and Prince Charles Peter Ball often mention their friendship.
On 8 March 1993 Peter Ball received a caution for one count of gross indecency against Neil Todd. He resigned immediately. Peter Ball alleged to the Church of England shortly that he either did not wish to resign, and accepted a caution to avoid a trial.
“This Inquiry has been provided with details of allegations made by a total of 32 individuals. These all relate to an alleged abuse of power by Peter Ball for the purposes of his sexual gratification.”
The former Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball was convicted of two offences of indecent assault, and an offence of misconduct
Peter Ball admitted when pleading guilty that he received sexual gratification from the deliberate manipulation of vulnerable young men, that the contact was consistent with grooming and that he abused his position as a Bishop in the Church of England
In January 1996, Ball was permitted by Archbishop Carey to preach at a particular public school and, to conduct confirmations at other specific schools later on in that year
(1) Why he was permitted to return to ministry in this fashion? (2) Why did no-one think to carry out some kind of risk assessment? (3) Whether or not senior clergy simply thought that Peter Ball’s pleas of innocence should be believed?
“I really appreciate your sympathetic understanding in preventing a scandal with a trial which would have affected the Royal family and establishments in this crucial time of turmoil within the Church of England.” Bishop Kemp comments on a 1990s investigation into Peter Ball
A risk assessment carried out by the Church in 2009 identified that Peter Ball could be identified as a sexual predator given the length and scale of his offending
Prince Charles gives evidence to inquiry into Peter Ball
The Prince of Wales says he was aware that Peter Ball, who lived in Aller, near Langport, had been given a police caution, but claims he did not realise it amounted to an admission of guilt.
Details of Prince Charles’s relationship with Ball will be revealed at an inquiry into the case on Friday.
The next in line to the throne had “decades of correspondence” with Ball and occasionally sent him “small gifts of money”, according to the draft copy of his statement to the inquiry, The Times has reported.
The statement will add that Ball confided in him in 2009 that he had been involved in an “indiscretion” years previously, which he blamed on a person with a grudge.
Peter Ball abuse inquiry requests statement from Prince Charles
Wed 06 Jun 2018
By Press Association
The Prince of Wales has been asked to give a witness statement to a public inquiry about a paedophile bishop who was jailed after abusing young men.
Peter Ball was sentenced to 32 months in 2015 for a string of offences between the 1970s and 1990s, and the handling of allegations against him is now being examined by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
At a hearing on Wednesday, counsel to the inquiry Fiona Scolding QC said that statements had been requested from the prince and his principal private secretary.
According to a transcript posted on the inquiry website, she said: “We have also requested a witness statement from both His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and his principal private secretary.
“The Prince’s solicitors have indicated their client’s willingness to assist us and have raised a number of important issues for us to consider.
“This has led to lengthy and complex discussions and we are currently considering the latest points they have raised. We hope to be able to provide an update to core participants on this in the next couple of weeks.”
Charles had exchanged a series of letters with Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, whose diocese covers Highgrove, the prince’s country home.
A spokesman for the prince told the Daily Mail last year that the correspondence contained nothing of relevance to the clergyman’s offending.
Lawyer Richard Scorer from Slater and Gordon, who is representing complainants at the IICSA, said: “It is imperative that the inquiry leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to establish how Peter Ball was able to evade justice for two decades.
“If this means calling Prince Charles and other prominent establishment figures as witnesses then the inquiry should do so without fear or favour.”
2005 The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Shand attended by Bishop Peter Ball
Peter Ball ‘preached at the funeral of Camilla’s father’s in 2006, which indicates his standing in their household.’
It is quite Eye Opening Info, that Lord Mountbatten, Charles’ mentor, who introduced Jimmy Savile to the Royal Family, used to have Charles and Camilla visiting regularly in the early 70s around the time that Judge Goddard was in Britain with Camilla’s friend(Johnny Scott)
Truthseeker1@thewakeupcall09
Lord Louis Mountbatten former chauffeur Norman Nield exposed him
Meanwhile, in New Zealand, there have been such newspaper headlines as, “‘Uncle Dickie’ the Sex Pervert” (N.Z. Truth, Sept. 8, 1987), since Mountbatten’s former chauffeur, Norman Nield, started revealing details of the late Lord Mountbatten’s alleged sexual exploitation of boys.
Edward Prince of Wales and his cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten “relax” in a canvas swimming pool on board H. M. S. Renown during their 1920 Empire Tour.
Lord Louis was a great grandson of Queen Victoria and the uncle of Prince Philip (consort of Queen Elizabeth II). Mountbatten was also a promiscuous bisexual who was famously rumored to have had an affair with Edward VIII (who was Prince of Wales at the time) when he accompanied him on his Empire tours (see photo above).
The Queen. Like any human being, she is subject to the influence of those around her. While he lived, Lord Mountbatten was a persuasive counsellor, and he formulated the plan for Prince Charles’s unusually rigorous education.
Through her marriage to Sir Johnny Scott, the current head of the Home Office‘s ‘independent’ inquiry into child abuse, Judge Lowell Goddard, has links with Camilla and Prince Charles
Camilla met Charles at a polo match in 1970.
Sir Johnny Scott (IICSA Chair Lowell Goddard’s ex-husband and father of her child Rebecca Scott) grew up with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall,
Catwalk Trust: Back row – Lisa Chittick, Charlotte Gendall, Georgie Falloon, Sharleen Workman, Zara Phillips, Rebecca Scott,Greer Draper, Paula Petrie
Front row – Leanne Parker, Catriona Williams, Pip McCarroll
The Queen supported Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball after his police caution. In 1994, when she was distributing Royal Maundy money in Truro, Ball was there with his brother, who was Truro’s bishop.
After lunch in the Chapter House, the Queen, who had been on the high table with local dignitaries, went across to Ball, held out her hand and said in the clearest of voices: ‘My love and encouragement, Bishop.’
The New Zealand judge heading the UK’s historical child abuse inquiry has shocked barristers by admitting that she is confused by English law.
Dame Justice Goddard is set to earn around £5million (NZ$9.17m) as chairwoman of the inquiry after being appointed by Theresa May.
Some lawyer have expressed their concerns about the delays and Dame Justice Goddard’s handling of the inquiry.
During the preliminary hearings last week, she admitted she was ‘unsure of local law’, when police attempted to block details of an investigation going public, according to The Times.
Dame Lowell Goddard, the head of Britain’s inquiry into child abuse, has spent more than 70 days working abroad or on holiday in her first year in the role.
4 August 2016
The inquiry has been beset by delays and controversies since it was first announced by the then home secretary Theresa May.
Baroness Butler-Sloss, stood down in July 2014 amid questions over the role played by her late brother, Lord Havers, who was attorney general in the 1980s.
Her replacement Dame Fiona Woolf resigned following a barrage of criticism over her “establishment links”, most notably in relation to former home secretary Leon Brittan, who died in 2015.
Mrs May officially reconstituted the probe under Justice Goddard in March 2015
Dame Lowell Goddard resigned in August after 18 months chairing the child abuse inquiry
It would have been “inconceivable” for Theresa May to be unaware of concerns about the behaviour of the chairman of the child sexual abuse inquiry, a former minister claimed as MPs prepared to launch an investigation into the allegations.
The Times revealed today that Home Office staff and advisers received warnings about Dame Lowell Goddard’s offensive behaviour in her role as chairwoman of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) but did not end her “catastrophic” leadership.
It is claimed that her aggressive and abusive conduct at times reduced the inquiry’s operation to “near paralysis”
A UK newspaper has accused New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard of making racist remarks during her time as the head of an inquiry into child sex abuse.
The front-page report in The Times also makes unsourced claims Dame Lowell was aggressive and abusive, and allegedly suffered memory lapses.
British officials close to Prime Minister Theresa May have been accused of covering up the allegations of misconduct.
The Times says Home Office staff and advisors were told of Dame Lowell’s behaviour and she was warned by a senior official, but no further action was taken.
The article details two instances of alleged racism.
There was a sense that “an inquiry set up to oppose a culture of secrecy and cover-up has become itself an exemplar of the sins it was supposed to expose”
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Brothers: Richard Alston – convicted child rapist (left) – Diplomat Robert Alston (right) pictured above
Richard Alston – former school teacher and long term partner of the founder of PIE (Peter Righton) – has beensentenced to 21 months in prison for molesting an 11-year-old boy.
Charles Napier and Peter Righton
The court heard that Peter Righton and Richard Alston’s friend Charles Napier – now a convicted paedophile – would also be present when the boy was abused.
In 2014, Wheen waived his right to anonymity in order to speak about being a victim of teacher Charles Napier, after Napier was convicted of sexually abusing 23 boys between 1967 and 1983. Wheen described his experience as less serious than that of other victims, and had only become aware of the scale of Napier’s activities later.[19][20]
Following on from my list of PIE members blog post, I thought I’d look at some of the depraved individuals – starting with it’s treasurer – Charles Napier, member number 116.
Charles Napier is the half brother of John Whittingdale, the Conservative MP for Maldon. It’s hard to gain any proper insight into the family logistics unless you piece together information in newspaper articles and look at the genealogy, which turns out to be an enigma in itself.
Read through the timeline of Napier’s depravity, but most importantly, please see my final – and rather important question – towards the end.
Alexander was in the Indian Political Service and was Meg’s second husband. Her first was Ephraim Stewart Cook Spence, whom she married in 1942 and divorced in 1946. Sadly, Alexander died of an illness in 1954 when Charles was just 7 years old, and Meg remarried again to John Whittingdale in 1957. They had a son – John Flasby Lawrance (now MP for Maldon) – in 1959. This explains the familial connection between John Whittingdale MP and Charles Napier, convicted self-confessed life-long paedophile – they are half brothers through their mother.
1965 (approx): Joined Exeter University to study an Art degree.
1967-1972: Began abusing young boys.
1969: At the age of 22, he graduated from Exeter University with a B.A. Napier has said that it was at this point he first realised he was a paedophile, but his conviction in 2014 says it was well before this.
1969-1972: Teacher at Copthorne Preparatory School in West Sussex where he was eventually charged for abusing pupils between the ages of eight and 13. (One of those went on to become a mainstream press columnist, who wrote about the abuse in 2005.)
1972: At the age of 25, he was charged with abuse against young boys and sentenced to three years probation. (See 2014) Claimed he underwent Electric Shock Therapy in an attempt to ‘cure’ his attraction to children. Was also put onto the Department of Education’s (DoE) ‘List 99’, which banned him from teaching.
1972 onwards: Became a member and Treasurer of Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) following his dismissal from the school. Funds were supplied for this grotesque group by the Home Office.
1974-1977: Exposed in Daily Telegraph as being a member and treasurer of PIE whilst also working for Nucleus – a youth welfare organisation helping youngsters in Earls Court. Funded by a grant from Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, as well as a Swiss charity, Fondation Rejoindre, and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and other trusts and individuals.
The Paedophile Information Exchange PIE was allegedly given £70,000 by the Home Office between 1977 and 1980 – the equivalent today of about £400,000.
A former Home Office worker revealed that Jim Callaghan’s Labour government and Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative administration, which took over in 1979, may have provided funding for PIE.
The whistleblower said senior civil servant Clifford Hindley, who was head of the Home Office’s voluntary services unit, signed off a three year grant for £35,000 in 1980.
1978: Working in a junior school in Sweden, with children aged 11 years onwards. He was visited by Righton.
1979: Abuse of a 13-year old boy.
Peter Righton wrote to the DoE in his capacity as a member of the National Institute of Social Workers claiming to have counselled Napier and also included a letter from a psychiatrist to confirm that Napier was no longer a threat to children. That psychiatrist was another of their paedophile ring – Dr Morris Fraser.
1981: Inclusion on List 99 relaxed to allow Napier to work in colleges and universities.
1980s: Assistant head of studies for the British Council in Cairo, during which time he wrote a letter stating that the city was “full of boys, 98 per cent of them available“.
1983: Abuse of a second 13-year old boy.
1990: Napier applied for his ban on teaching children to be lifted. His appeal failed after his referee, Morris Fraser, was himself convicted for abuse and struck off.
1992: Operation Clarence – police raid on Peter Righton’s home leads to the uncovering of hundreds of letters, including one in particular from Napier.
1994-2012approx: Set up and help run a school in Istanbul, teaching English as a second language.
1995: Aged 48, he was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment following a police investigation into Peter Righton under Operation Clarence. Police found a letter at a South London flat – written by Napier – boasting of his access to young boys. He lodged an appeal, which was refused.
2012: Returned to live with his mother in Sherborne, where he became involved in village life.
2014: At the age of 67, he was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to the abuse of 21 boys between 1967-1972, following the police investigation, Operation Cayacos.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
He was a British Council teacher in Cairo, and has boasted about easy access to young boys there, as well as sending obscene images back to the UK via diplomatic bags in a letter found in a South London flat during Op Clarence.
Spent time living in Sweden.
Lived in Sherborne, Dorset.
Lived on a houseboat in Thames Ditton, Surrey.
Also a respected playright and theatre director.
He was a very good friend of PIE founder, Peter Righton and his partner, Richard Alston.
Napier (left) and Righton (right)
BACK TO WHITTINGDALE…
Whittingdale, having graduated from UCL and moved to Earls Court, joined the Conservative Research Department in 1982 (which is essentially the very core of the Tory party), eventually becoming a special adviser to Leon Brittan before then moving on to become the political secretary to Margaret Thatcher. In these positions he must have been privy to some of the paperwork or conversations surrounding the criticism of PIE and must have been aware of the continual media interest in the group.
This raises questions as to whether he was proactive in addressing and reporting these issues, knowing full well of his brother’s (Napier) role in the organisation, which is picked up in a blog comment in 2013, regarding Whittingdale, Brittan and their seeming inertia when it came to proactively dealing with issues raised in the Dickens dossier, which was handed to Brittan at the end of 1983 during a meeting that David Mellor can’t remember happening (but obviously attended):
…the point I was making that given their {Whittingdale and Leon Brittan} combined knowledge and political/ personal awareness of the seriousness of the Dickens dossier at the time… I would have been surprised if it hadn’t come up in conversation given the alleged closeness of ministers and their special advisers.
The main issue in an argument as to why John Whittingdale is such a key person to… demand answers from today remains that, as Chair of what has become in the last 3 years one of the most powerful weapons of an investigative Parliament, he took a very active and high profile stance over other institutions failing to act in the face of a dangerous paedophile {Savile}… and we must demand he and his all party Committee now adopt the same exacting standards to how this obvious cover up was allowed to continue.
A starting point would be how many referrals did he make to Police/social services over 30 years when he knew (as evidenced in letters written by Napier) that Napier was in professional contact with children and since Napier has returned to live in the family home with their mother was he aware of his contact with Sherbourne School pupils up until the Mirror featured it a few months ago.
WHICH LEADS US ON TO A BIGGER PICTURE…
The comment goes on to say:
Peter Righton and his partner disappeared after Righton’s convictions and were subsequently traced to Lord Henniker’s ancestral home in Eye in Suffolk.
The Chief Constable of Suffolk took it upon himself to visit and warn Henniker that he had 2 paedophiles with very significant national links on his property. Henniker was not in any way perturbed by this disclosure despite the fact that for many years he had had extremely vulnerable children holiday on his estate. He ran the Islington /Suffolk Project – a scheme for disadvantaged children from Islington to have country holidays in rural Suffolk.
If you Google the late Lord Henniker you will see how influential a role he played in The British Council – Righton’s very close friend/fellow PIE member Charles Napier was employed as a teacher by the British Council in Cairo even though he was already on List 99 as a banned teacher after his early conviction.
I’m not going to go any further down this particular rabbit hole, but now you can clearly see why Tom Watson stood up and asked a perfectly legitimate question, and understand why it might have made a few members of the opposing side feel slightly awkward.
AN IMPORTANT FINAL QUESTION…
Just who was the paedophile whom Tom referred to, who played a part in the conviction of Peter Righton during Operation Clarence, and who claimed of having a link to an aide of a former Prime Minister and boasted about how he could smuggle indecent images from abroad? And, more importantly, why were the leads not followed up?
And on that note – what happened to all the correspondence they found? Where is it now?
Many perpetrators and those with links may no longer be alive, but there are plenty around who have the ability to answer questions. Who, if anyone, within the Conservative Party, have been called to give evidence to iiCSA regarding the infiltration of paedophiles in public life and explain what exactly was done about it? Mellor, Whittingdale and others can give first hand accounts, so will they? Are the Operation Clarence files still fully intact and have they been lodged with iiCSA? If not, why not?
Dr Richard Barker@swrb1
Peter Righton has since died. His partner, Richard Alston, who lived with him at Thornham Magna, has since been convicted and imprisoned for sexual offences against children.
Why did Peter Righton hide out in Thornham Magna @ Islington Suffolk Project?
Cassandra Cogno@CassandraCogno
If Lord Henniker was such a philanthropist why was he taking money off islingtonBC for Islington Suffolk Project? Also as @ian_pace noted Richard Alston thanks Islington resident & PIE lobbyist Micky Burbidge in the foreword of Sir Colin Davis bio
A FORMER British Council worker, who sexually abused boys at his home, was sent to prison for nine months yesterday. Charles Napier, 48, was a treasurer of the Paedophile Information Exchange and had convictions for child abuse as far back as 1972, Kingston Crown Court was told.
Napier found a job with the British Council in Cairo after being banned from teaching jobs in British schools after a conviction for indecent assault. He was sacked when British Council officials discovered the offences.
He admitted in a pre-sentence report that he was still sexually attracted to boys, and had also expressed continuing sexual feelings for children in a recent letter, the jury was told.
During the two-week trial, the jurors heard that Napier, who had denied two charges of indecent assault between 1982 and 1985, had lured young boys back to his home in Thames Ditton, Surrey, with promises of boat trips and computer games. One victim, now 25, said Napier had befriended him when he played truant and had later lured him into his bed before sexually assaulting him. Napier had also been given probation as far back as 1972 after being found guilty of similar offences against young children.
Judge Geoffrey Mercer said: ”When these matters eventually came to light it led to the loss of your job abroad.” Information showed that Napier was a continuing threat to children. ”It clearly shows the continuing sexual attraction towards boys and it is clear from the pre-sentence report you do not deny that.” He would have passed a ”considerably greater” sentence had it not been for the fact that the offences had been committed before the maximum sentence had been increased to ten years.
Napier, who has been living abroad, was also ordered to pay Pounds 1,000 costs.
Charles Napier could provide vital evidence for police investigating a child abuse scandal spanning three decades
In the picturesque Dorset town of Sherborne, Charles Napier is an upstanding member of the community. He is known as a respected retired languages teacher, a playwright and theatre director. Only last month he gave a lecture on William Shakespeare at the town’s literary festival.
But Napier’s sordid past threatens to drag him into the heart of new inquiries into a child abuse scandal spanning three decades. Evidence now being examined by Metropolitan Police detectives links Napier to Peter Righton, one of Britain’s most high-profile paedophiles.
Righton is now long dead. But Napier is not. Now 68 and living with his mother in the West Country, he could prove a vital witness to the unfolding police inquiry into child abuse on a massive scale in this country. Both men were linked to a shadowy organisation called the Paedophile Information Exchange which campaigned in the 70s and 80s for what they called the age of “child love” to be reduced to four.
Righton was a founder of PIE, Napier its one-time treasurer. Righton, incredibly, was also one of Britain’s leading child protection specialists. But when police raided his house in Evesham, Worcs, in 1992 they found not only hard-core child abuse images from Amsterdam but a “quarter-century of correspondence” between paedophiles in Britain and around the world.
The probe led police to the kitchen of a flat in South London where they found a letter from ‘Napier – who had a child assault conviction 20 years before – boasting of his life in Cairo as a”British Council teacher. He bragged of easy access to young boys and how he could send obscene images back to Britain in diplomatic bags.
The scandal erupted again when Labour MP Tom Watson raised the matter with David Cameron in the House of Commons last month suggesting a network of paedophiles working in the UK had links to high levels of Government. He believes there was an Establishment cover-up of the Righton files and his claims are now being investigated by a Scotland Yard team.
Since Mr Watson’s first dramatic announcement, dozens of victims have come forward with allegations of shocking abuse by paedophiles at care homes across Britain. Several names of senior politicians have been put in the frame though, it has to be said, without any evidential corroboration. However, what is clear is that there are real concerns that more could and should have been done after Righton’s 1992 arrest and subsequent caution for indecent assault of a boy 30 years before.
Even Michael Hames, then head of Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Squad, who handled the Righton files expressed disappointment more was not done. Writing in 2000 of the Righton inquiry, he called for a national team to be set up to investigate paedophiles, adding: “I remain convinced that we have only touched the tip of a huge national and international problem.”
The story of Charles Napier is an extraordinary one that shows how a paedophile was able to operate with impunity while holding down a thoroughly respectable lifestyle. It illustrates how there was little or no safety net to prevent child abusers from returning to their sick ways. And it begins at Copthorne Preparatory School, West Sussex, in the late 60s.
This week, respected author and journalist Francis Wheen told the Sunday People how he was just 11 when Napier arrived at the school. He says Napier, then in is 20s, charmed the youngsters with his sports car, dashing good looks and claims that he was a professional actor.
Mr Wheen said: “He recruited a few of us, saying ‘spend more time in the gym’ and appointed himself gym master. There was a room off the gym and that became his haunt. Four or five of us started regularly going down there, vaulting over horses and things like that, in our gym shorts in all our innocence.
At the end of it he would take us into his room off the gym and give us beer and cigarettes – bottles of Mackeson’s and Senior Service untipped.
We thought this was terrifically exciting. Here we were, 11 years old, being given beer and fags – we were thinking he’s on our side not like any of the other masters. And of course this was for an ulterior purpose which very soon became clear when he stuck his hand down my gym shorts and I had to sort of fight him off.”
Napier then revealed his terrifying technique for grooming the youngsters by trying to humiliate the 11-year-old Francis.
Mr Wheen said: “He said ‘Don’t be such a baby’ and said I wasn’t grown-up enough for that sort of thing. He would point to a couple of other boys, saying ‘They let me do it. You just won’t let me because you’re so babyish.’
“I think he was hoping I’d say ‘no I’m as grown up as them’ and let him get on with it but I didn’t. It meant I was excluded from his ‘charmed circle’ after that – but by then I knew where he kept his beer and cigarettes so I used to break into his room, steal them and go sit in the woods.
“I could enjoy them without being sexually abused.”
Mr Wheen also described the culture of silence that grew up around the assaults, with youngsters reluctant to report the teacher, feeling they wouldn’t be believed.
He added: “A year or two after I left, my younger brother – who was still at the school – came back from holidays and told me Mr Napier had been sacked.
“At long last one boy who had been sexually molested had been innocent enough to go to the headmaster and report him.
“There was a very hasty exit made by Napier. He had a flashy sports car and as soon as the game was up, he roared off at speed and pranged it on the school gates. I think I got away quite lightly – I can’t pretend I’ve been scarred for life by it, but I’m sure there are children out there who have been badly damaged by Charles Napier.”
In 1972, Napier was found to have indecently assaulted pupils at a Surrey school where he was working. After being banned from teaching, he left the country.
In 1978, he was working in Sweden where he taught at a junior school with pupils as young as 11 – and was visited by Righton.
Napier later surfaced in Egypt, where he worked as the assistant head of studies with the British Council in Cairo.
A letter from the time saw him boast to a friend that the city was “full of boys, 98 per cent of them available”.
He also helped set up and run a school in Turkey. His picture appears on a website offering English as a Foreign Language, where he boasts: “Most of my posts have been in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East, and for the last eight years I’ve been in Istanbul, running my own school and writing a series of course books for Turkish students.”
Back in England, Napier was jailed for nine months in 1995 for sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy he’d lured to his home in the 80s. He befriended the lad, enticing him with lager and computer games – then abused him. Prosecutors said: “It wasn’t just a stranger grabbing a boy in the park. This was a slow insidious process. The boy was trapped – not forced.”
Righton, a founder member of PIE, was at one time the UK’s leading authority on the protection of children, yet he used his power to not only hide his paedophilia, but to help other child abusers – among them Napier.
The latter’s ban on teaching meant he was added to List 99, a precursor of the Sex Offenders’ Register. And Righton – the subject of a 1994 documentary on paedophiles – used his influence to try to have Napier removed from the list so he could be allowed back into schools. Righton wrote to the Department of Education saying: “Mr Napier is a gifted teacher of both adults and children.
“I believe that during the years since his conviction he has acquired a knowledge and disciplined mastery of himself which would justify the conclusion he no longer constitutes a sexual risk to children in his charge.
“It would give me great pleasure – and cause me no anxiety – to hear the Secretary of State had reviewed his decision of October 24, 1972, in Mr Napier’s favour.”
In 1981, the ban was relaxed to allow Napier into colleges and universities. In 1990 he applied for the ban to be further relaxed – this time enlisting Dr Malcolm (Morris) sic Fraser as his referee. Dr Fraser was convicted in 1992 for possessing indecent photographs of children. His third conviction saw him struck off – and Napier remained on the banned list.
Mr Wheen thought he’d seen the last of his former teacher but their paths crossed again in 1977, when he was commissioned to write an article about PIE and its desire to lower the age of consent. A senior group member told Mr Wheen: “You must speak to our treasurer. He’s very good. Very well informed about the issues.” Mr Wheen was astonished to discover the expert he was being put in touch with was his former teacher – now PIE’s treasurer – Charles Napier.
Mr Wheen added: “I didn’t really want to speak to him. I couldn’t believe what my old teacher had become.”
A man has been cleared of a charge of historical sex abuse after a judge said there was no evidence to support it.
Ex-teacher Charles Napier, from Sherborne, Dorset, denied inciting a boy under the age of 14 to commit an act of gross indecency with another.
The allegation dates back to between February 1978 and February 1979.
Mr Napier, half-brother of Conservative MP John Whittingdale, remains on conditional bail with regard to further charges of historical sex abuse.
The 67-year-old is due back at Southwark Crown Court on 10 November.
Judge Anthony Leonard QC said that he should be found not guilty of this one specific charge after he was told there was no evidence to support the claim.
Mr Napier’s co-defendant Richard Alston*, 69, of Vinery Road in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of sex abuse against a child dating from January 1977 to February 1980, at the same hearing on Tuesday.
The charges include six counts of indecent assault on a male and four counts of indecency with a child.
His trial, which expected to last 10 days, was set for the same court on 17 August 2015, with a pre-trial hearing to be held on 20 July. He was released on conditional bail.
*Alston was Peter Righton’s partner. He was also a teacher.
The half-brother of a senior Conservative MP has pleaded guilty to a string of historic sex offences on young boys. Charles Napier, 67, who is related to Maldon MP John Whittingdale, admitted 28 indecent assault charges and one indecency offence on a child at London’s Southwark Crown Court.
Napier, of Newland in Sherborne, Dorset, admitted abusing 21 boys under the age of 16 between September 1967 and April 1972. Wearing glasses and dressed in a checked shirt with a tweed blazer, Napier said “guilty” as the court clerk read each of the charges to him. The court heard he faces a further two separate indecent assault charges involving two other boys, for which he has yet to enter pleas.
Napier was remanded in custody as Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith adjourned sentencing to December 23. The judge said: “It will enable those victims who wish to be here to be alerted and they can be here.” One charge involved a boy who was indecently assaulted on eight occasions by Napier between September 1969 and April 1972. The indecency offence involved a child who was forced to commit a sex act on Napier, the court heard.
Napier was former treasurer of the Paedophile Information Exchange which campaigned in the 70s and 80s for what they called the age of ‘child love’ to be reduced to four. He also has links to Peter Righton – one of Britain’s most high-profile paedophiles.
Napier was arrested last year under Operation Cayacos, a strand of a wider investigation which was launched following claims by MP Tom Watson. In 2012, Mr Watson used parliamentary privilege to claim that a file of evidence used to convict Peter Righton of importing child pornography in 1992 contained “clear intelligence” of a sex abuse gang. He wrote to Scotland Yard, which launched criminal investigation Operation Fairbank. It has since spawned two more inquiries – Fernbridge, which is looking at claims linked to the Elm Guest House in Barnes, south west London, in the 1980s, and Cayacos.
When police raided Righton’s house in Evesham, Worcestershire, in 1992 they found hardcore child abuse images from Amsterdam and a ‘quarter-century of correspondence’ between paedophiles in Britain and around the world. The probe led police to the kitchen of a flat in south London where they found a letter from Napier, who was convicted in 1995 for sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy, boasting of his life in Cairo as a British Council teacher. He boasted of easy access to young boys and how he could send obscene images back to Britain in diplomatic bags. Napier has lived in Sweden and worked for the British council in Cairo and is a respected playwright and theatre director. Righton has since died.
Mr Whittingdale refused to comment when contacted about the guilty pleas. When his half-brother was charged, Mr Whittingdale said: “I am aware that my half-brother has been charged with an offence alleged to have occurred over 35 years ago. I have no knowledge of this, particularly as I had only just left school at that time. However, obviously I recognise that this is a serious matter and that the law must take its course.”
John Whittingdale MP’s father – educated at Sherborne Preparatory School
John Whittingdale’s half-brother, convicted paedophile, Charles Napier, was the treasure of PIE and lived and worked in Dorset
Historic abuse allegations at Sherborne Preparatory School back in the spotlight as part of disturbing ITV documentary
Retired police chief makes shocking revelation to documentary makers
19 FEB 2018
An ITV documentary has investigated three decades of abuse carried out by a former head teacher at Sherborne Preparatory School.
The school – one of the top prep schools in the country – was rocked by scandal in 1998 when it was alleged that the then-headmaster, Robin Lindsay, had committed a catalogue of abuse dating back to 1972.
Shockingly, the former Chief-Superintendent of Dorset Police, who investigated the allegations, reveals to documentary presenter Alex Renton that parents of pupils at the school hampered police and social services investigations into the school. They dismissed his behaviour as being “eccentric”, being more concerned about their children’s ability to pass the common entrance examination to other schools.
Lindsay, who was banned from teaching and branded a “fixated paedophile” who posed a serious risk to children, was given a huge send off from the school at Sherborne Abbey, with a standing ovation and parents and pupils singing “for he’s a jolly good fellow.”
What the disturbing documentary reveals
Boarding Schools: The Secret Shame follows journalist and author Mr Renton – himself a survivor of sexual abuse at a boarding school – as he investigates the private schools who appeared to turn a blind eye to predatory paedophiles who groomed and assault pupils for decades.
The documentary is to be broadcast at 10.45pm on Monday (February 19).
During his investigation he interviews a number of abuse survivors and exposes systemic failures that allowed paedophiles not just to go unpunished, but also allowed them to continue teaching.
It also tells the story of one pupil who took his own life after struggling with depression and mental health issues after being abused at a teacher St Aubyn’s in Rottingdean.
In one disturbing scene, Mr Renton meets with a paedophile teacher, who claims the sexual abuse at boarding schools continues to this day because it is “traditional” and has been going on for “generations”.
What does the documentary say about Sherborne Preparatory School?
The abuse at Sherborne Preparatory School is described by Mr Renton as “among hundreds of cases, the one that stood out”.
“Here, the abuser wasn’t just a lowly teacher,” he explains, “It was the owner and head master, whose abuse spanned three decades.
A Western Gazette reporter doorknocks Lindsay following the panel’s findings
“It is a fascinating case,” he says, as he is shown researching the story in old copies of the Western Gazette. “And not least because this man, dismissed as a harmless eccentric, turns out to have been a serious abuser while running that school.
“For a child there, this is the authority figure. There are no governors, no trustees. So where does a child go?”
What happened at the school?
Head teacher and owner of the school Robin Lindsay was accused of committing a serious sexual assault against one pupil of the school, encouraged children to share his bed and joined them naked in the showers.
Police had investigated him in April 1986, but he claimed the accusations against him had been made maliciously. When investigated again in 1993, he admitted a string of allegations and accepted his physical intimacy with pupils was open to misinterpretation.
Dorset Social Services had also warned Lindsay about his behaviour in 1993, while their follow-up report in 1997 was “damning in the extreme”.
But it was not until 1998, when concerns over his behaviour became so extreme that the Department for Education held a tribunal and barred him from teaching.
As a result of the findings he retired from the school, saying he wanted to concentrate on clearing his name.
What did the tribunal find?
The tribunal found that Lindsay weighed boys naked for the rugby team, was sexually abusive, walked about the school in his pyjamas often exposing himself, and repeatedly refused to move out of the boys’ boarding accomodation.
It found three allegations of sexual assault not proven and ordered them to rely on file. The tribunal found that there was enough evidence from police and officials for the notice to have been issued in 1995, at the latest.
Mr Renton interviewed three former pupils at the school, who speak about the abuse they suffered at Lindsay’s hands.
They speak of being watched in the showers, groped, and him rubbing them down with embrocation if they were injured.
Another speaks of being held down in his bed, while Lindsay performs a sex act over him.
Another says that when he tried to talk to his parents, his allegations were dismissed and ignored.
What did the parents say when the allegations came to light?
Despite the tribunal finding him unfit to run a school and branding him a “fixated paedophile” and “a serious risk to children”, parents of pupils at the school rallied to his defence.
When the Western Gazette reported on the allegations against him, parents at the school began to contact the paper in their hundreds, with one claiming: “His only fault is to have a little of the eccentricity that we British are famed for.”
The letter writer continues: “You have denied this headmaster a dignified and happy start to his retirement.”
Another wrote: “We are sicked by your prurient obsession with child sex, and your regular bullying of wretched individuals.”
A former pupil of the school contacted the paper to say: “I firmly believe that many of the allegations made against him, particularly those concerning inappropriate behaviour towards young boys have been blown out of proportion.”
When he was ousted from the school, a service was held for him at Sherborne Abbey, where 700 people sang ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ and gave him a standing ovation, before handing him a bronze bust as a leaving gift, as well as cigars, chocolates, a T-shirt and socks.
Why did he not face criminal charges?
Gill Donnell was the chief superintendent at Dorset Police and oversaw the investigation in Lindsay in 1993.
When interviewed for the documentary, she said : “I’ve remembered this case over the many, many cases over the many, many years I’ve worked in the police for the challenges that we had getting the evidence that’s necessary. And in the case that we’re talking about, the main place that evidence is going to come from very small children.”
She added that parents of pupils at the school were reluctant to allow police to talk to their children.
“The majority that I spoke to were very hesitant and some of them made it very clear that they were not going to let us talk to their children.
“It was said to me on more than one occasion that the most important thing for the parents was that their parents went to the required public school and that anything that was done to endanger that, they weren’t terribly supportive of at all.
“Their priority was about the future of their children, and not what may or may not have been happening to them at the time.”
What happened to Lindsay?
Lindsay joined the school in 1953, when he joined his father who was the headmaster at the time. After his father’s death in 1972, he served as the school’s headmaster.
He was 70 when he retired from the school in the face of the findings of the Department for Education panel.
Speaking after his retirement, he said he had withdrawn his appeal against the findings of the panel to spare the school the publicity of a contested hearings.
He said that he “categorically denied” the allegations against him and that they described “events which simply did not take place. The welfare and happiness of the children in the school and those who have been there has been the prime objective of my life.”
Following the complaint, he was banned from the school premises and had to sever all links with the school. He said it was “scandalous” that the DfEE banned him from teaching.
In a statement released through his solicitors, he criticised the way evidence was gathered and the handling of the case by the tribunal but accepted that “in years past he, like many other schoolteachers did things which are now considered unsuitable.
“In earlier times those in his position were accepted as being ‘in loco parentis’ and fully justified in doing anything a good parent might have done.
“He absolutely denies he was in any sense a paedophile who put at risk children in his school.”
Lindsay never faced police charges, and died in July 2016.
What have the authorities said about the findings of the documentary?
Sherborne Prep School response to the documentary
Somerset Live contacted the school on Monday (February 19) for a response to the content of the documentary.
Nigel Jones, the current chairman of governors at Sherborne Preparatory School said it is a completely different body to the school owned and operated by Robin Lindsay.
He said: “The preparatory school was formed as a charitable trust when he (Robin Lindsay) was removed from the school. Governors were appointed.
“It acquired the school from him in 1998.
“It is a completely different financial, legal and governance organisation.
“We don’t know what happened because we are not in any way party to things that went on.
“If the allegations are true, they are totally abhorrent and we accept that.
“It is very difficult when we are approached by people. It happened 20 years ago.
“I have huge sympathy for anyone who has been assaulted.
“If there is something we can do to help, we are happy to talk to them.”
“Safeguarding of children is the number one priority in the school.”
“We have a nominated safeguarding governor.
“We have a strict policy and follow it to the letter, which includes talking to the regulatory authorities, police and charity commission.”
The Independent Association of Prep Schools said it is “appalled by the events of the past.”
It added that the education, care and welfare of young people is its primary concern and they demand “the most exacting standards” of themselves and their schools.
Boarding Schools: The Secret Shame is scheduled to air on ITV on Monday (February 19) at 10.45pm.
Were you affected by abuse at Sherborne Prep School? You can contact us in confidence by e-mail at laura.linham@midsomnews.co.uk
Historic abuse at Sherborne Prep: Council silent over findings of report
Report found shocking conditions at school five years before headteacher was disgraced and ousted
3 MAY 2018
A council has refused to comment in detail on a 25-year-old report that revealed concerns raised by boarding pupils at a school five years before its head was ousted as a “fixated paedophile”.
A report released from Dorset County Council’s archives documented deeply troubling behaviour by the now disgraced head of Sherborne Preparatory School, Robin Lindsay.
These included accusations that he had interfered with male boarding students and dismissed an allegation of abuse made by one pupil as a dream.
Lindsay’s behaviour in the decades before he was forced to leave the school in 1998 has been investigated in recent months after survivors of abuse came forward to Somerset Live and ITV.
Dorset County Council said it would co-operate with any inquiry into how Lindsay was able to get away with his actions for so long.
But it declined to answer questions about why the second report has gone missing and why Lindsay was able to continue in his role as headmaster at the school given the extraordinary allegations against him.
The questions Dorset County Council refused to answer
We invited Rebecca Knox, leader of Dorset County Council, to say if she believed the council had done enough to help and protect the children who were at Sherborne Preparatory School during Lindsay’s reign.
She did not respond to us directly but the council’s press office did get in touch, to offer a no-comment statement.
Here’s the questions they refused to respond to:
How do you feel about Dorset County Council’s role in what is said to have happened in the school?
Can you explain why the second report has gone missing or been destroyed?
Why was Lindsay was able to continue in his role as headmaster at the school given the extraordinary allegations against him in the ’93 report?
Why didn’t social services not go back into the school to find out if there had been any progress on the recommendations in the report?
Do you support calls for an inquiry into the case, as made by Sherborne’s MP and former pupils at the school?
Instead, the council released a short statement which read: “We take allegations of abuse very seriously and would always urge victims to come forward and report it.
“We are not able to comment any further on the matter. However, if an inquiry is called we would fully co-operate if asked to take part.”
The Notice of Complaint that was sent to Robin Lindsay
The Notice of Complaint that was sent to Robin Lindsay was signed and dated, on Tuesday 5 May, 1998, by the Treasury Solicitor for the Secretary of State for Education and Employment.
Printed below are the particulars of the matters complained of:
TO MR R. T. M. LINDSAY, PROPRIETOR OF THE PREPARATORY SCHOOL, ACREMAN STREET, SHERBORNE, DORSET DT9 3NY.
SCHEDULE TO NOTICE OF COMPLAINT under section 469 of the Education Act 1996
PARTICULARS OF MATTERS COMPLAINED OF
These particulars (see section 469 (2) of the 1996 Act) set out in more detail the complaints which are made against you grouped under the main headings of the two statutory grounds relied upon by the Secretary of State.
GROUND S. 469 (1) (d) PROPER PERSON
The proprietor of the school . . . is not a proper person to be the proprietor of an independent school or . . . to be a teacher or other employee in any school.
COMPLAINT 1
1. Mr Lindsay has engaged in behaviour of an inappropriate nature. Mr Lindsay places himself in situations where he shows that he has, or could reasonably be suspected of having, an inappropriate interest in children (especially boys) and where he would be in difficulty in refuting allegations of inappropriate behaviour or abuse.
2. Mr Lindsays inappropriate behaviour takes, or has taken, the following forms:
(1) Personally supervising the boys showering arrangements despite numerous warnings in the reports referred to below (see Complaint 2) that this should cease. This behaviour has been coupled with a failure to implement frequent recommendations that the boarders showers be altered from their current institutional layout so as to allow privacy;
(2) Following a visit in June 1985, the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools warned Mr Lindsay of his foolish and indiscreet behaviour and advised that he should move out of the boarding house by September 1985. While it is believed that Mr Lindsay initially complied with this advice, he has for a number of years been resident again in the boarding house;
(3) Night-time supervision of pupils, including sitting on boys beds in the dormitory and inviting boys into his bed. Mr Lindsay is, or has been, involved in after-lights-out activities with small groups of boys, such as late-night runs, showers and mathematics lessons;
(4) Inappropriate physical contact with boys (and to a lesser extent girls), often causing distress and discomfort to those pupils, to which Mr Lindsay appears to be oblivious;
(5) Inordinate interest in the physical and, in particular, sexual development of pupils and their physical appearance;
(6) His treatment of the rugby team, which manifests itself, for example, in requiring the team members to be weighed while naked, putting them on diets, seating boys on his lap when driving the bus back from rugby matches (supposedly as a treat), and occasionally taking individual boys to a sauna;
(7) The possession of photographs of young boys in swimming costumes, discovered by a member of staff at the school in early 1998. The photographs were not of pupils at the school and may have been taken on one of Mr Lindsays holidays abroad;
(8) The possession of condoms, discovered in his suitcase by members of staff at the school, prior to departure on a ski-ing trip with a group of boys in February 1998. When confronted with one of the condoms Mr Lindsay denied knowledge of it and sought to suggest that it had been brought into the school by one of the boys;
(9) Taking groups of boys on ski-ing trips unaccompanied by other staff members, despite warnings in the above-mentioned reports that he should be accompanied by another staff member. The latest such trip was in February 1998; and
(10) He sexually assaulted pupils of the school, in particular X, Y and Z.
COMPLAINT 2
3. The history of the school over the period since 1993 has been one of considerable and unreasonable delays in implementing the improvements and safeguards recommended by the Dorset County Council Social Services Department and by the Department for Education and Employment. The school has been inspected:
(1) (under section 87 of the Children Act 1989) by Dorset SSD in February and March 1994 and in May 1996. There were brief visits to the school in March 1994 and June 1995. The most recent full inspection occurred in June 1997. Mr Lindsay has been in receipt of reports from Dorset SSD dated 22 July 1993; 16 November 1994; June 1996 (the draft copy of which Mr Lindsay failed to respond to) and July 1997;
(2) By Ofsted/ HMI in November and December 1993, November 1996 and February 1998. There have also been a number of follow up visits (eg 16 February 1995). Mr Lindsay has been in receipt of written recommendations with regard to the school arising out of those inspections.
4. Mr Lindsay has consistently failed to take the action recommended in those reports within a reasonable time or in some cases at all. The DfEE formally requested Mr Lindsay by letter dated 17 January 1997 that (among other things) he should put into place recommendations made by the Dorset SSD without delay. The letter expressed concern as to the length of time that was being taken to implement recommendations.
5. For example, the latest Ofsted report (following inspection on 5 February 1998) noted that at the date of the last Dorset SSD inspection some 47 matters remained outstanding from the previous SSD inspection.
COMPLAINT 3
6. Mr Lindsay has manifested an unco-operative and at times hostile or obstructive attitude towards public authorities, most notably towards Dorset SSD. His attitude to that department and its officers is characterised by an unwillingness to recognise or admit the relevance of their views or advice to the proper running of the school, as demonstrated by:
(1) delay in implementing recommendations contained in the above mentioned reports (see Complaint 2), and his unwillingness to deal effectively with the substance as opposed to the form of such recommendations made over a number of years;
(2) his expressed attitude towards health and safety, as illustrated by his disputing the recommendation of the fire officer to fit fire doors of a modern standard, and his explicit condoning and encouraging of the dangerous practice of wedging existing fire doors open (ostensibly to ease the supervision of dormitories):
(3) his attempts to pre-empt and undermine inspections. For example, Dorset SSD and Ofsted/ HMI inspectors have reported that Mr Lindsay has put pressure on staff and pupils with regards to what they say to inspectors;
(4) his inability or unwillingness to recognise and remedy many of the problems highlighted in inspections (e.g. the issue of the supervision of showers).
7. Further, the school has been dismissed from the professional organisation ISC (formerly known as ISJC) in the light of the most recent Dorset SSD report.
COMPLAINT 4
8. Mr Lindsays management and organisation of the school is confused, inadequate, inappropriate and inefficient. In particular, as regards Mr Lindsay:
(1) he is closely involved in the detailed running of the school and is unable and/or unwilling to delegate responsibility in an effective or consistent manner;
(2) he is unable to manage properly his time as between his teaching and administrative duties and is frequently late for (or misses) lessons;
(3) his teaching methodology is out-moded;
(4) his administration of discipline is fundamentally flawed in a number of respects (see Complaint 5, below)
(5) his inappropriate behaviour (see Complaint 1, above):
(6) his management of staff is poor and unstructured. He is isolated from many members of staff who regard his influence as counter-productive and divisive, especially with regard to discipline. Relations with staff generally are frequently poor and chaotic;
(7) his conduct of staff meetings is dictatorial, unstructured and generally unhelpful. They often are little more than a monologue and do not encourage serious comment or discussion from members of staff.
COMPLAINT 5
9. Mr Lindsays administration of discipline in practice in the school is irregular, inconsistent, unequal and partial. In particular:
(1) Mr Lindsay has shown an inability or unwillingness to back up members of the teaching staff seeking to discipline children appropriately. His interventions are often counter-productive to the proper discipline of the pupils and inconsistent with the approach initially adopted by the member of staff;
(2) on occasions where it has fallen on Mr Lindsay to deal with matters of discipline he has failed to act properly, adequately or consistently;
(3) disciplinary procedures in practice are haphazard, uncoordinated and inadequate;
(4) in the face of bad behaviour (e.g. disturbance in dormitories at night) Mr Lindsay has failed to enforce discipline and has pandered to the wishes of those pupils misbehaving;
(5) on occasions, Mr Lindsay has singled out pupils for punishment or criticism who did not merit such treatment.
10.The above matters have contributed to a worsening of behaviour in the school.
COMPLAINT 6
11. Mr Lindsays treatment of and dealings with pupils are often characterised by unequal and unfair treatment. Such treatment is not only inappropriate but is not conducive to proper discipline and fails to instil in pupils a proper approach to their own conduct. In particular, Mr Lindsays treatment includes:
(1) the singling out of individuals for undue blame;
(2) obvious manifestations of favouritism to certain pupils (including in disciplinary matter): and
(3) the lack of equal opportunities between pupils, including between boys and girls.
12. Mr Lindsays unequal treatment of pupils also manifests itself in relation to discipline (see above).
COMPLAINT 7
13. Mr Lindsays appearance and behaviour are not, or have not been, in a number of regards fitting and appropriate for the proprietor of a school, namely with regard to:
(1) his excessive consumption of alcohol and cough mixture, which has sometimes been apparent to other members of the school:
(2) his personal hygiene and appearance (in particular he strongly smells of smoke, something that causes discomfort to children with whom he comes into close contact):
(3) his appearance from time to time in the school inappropriately dressed (including appearing dressed only in pyjamas): and
(4) the matters referred to above (see Complaint 1).
COMPLAINT 8
14. Mr Lindsay has shown a lack of proper regard to child welfare management, see Complaints 1,2 5 and 6 above and, generally, see below. Further, gap-year staff (who are heavily relied on by the school) do not come to the school with appropriate letters from their local police station.
15. As a result of these matters, the children at the school are exposed to an unnecessary risk of harm in many aspects of their welfare. The fact that the most recent Dorset SSD report contained 47 recommendations which had to be addressed before the proprietor could be said to be properly ensuring the welfare of his boarding pupils in itself raises severe doubts as to his ability to manage the school. This is all the more so given that there have been numerous Dorset SSD reports and recommendations since 1993 (see Complaint 2 above)
SECTION 469(1)(e) CHILD WELFARE
There has been a failure, in relation to a child provided with accommodation by the school, to comply with the duty imposed by section 87 of the Children Act 1989.
Section 87 of the Children Act provides:
(1) It shall be the duty of – (a) the proprietor of any independent school which provides accommodation for any child . . . to safeguard and promote the childs welfare.
The complaints under this general heading demonstrate both failure to safeguard and promote the welfare of the pupils of the school and the creation of situations where that welfare has been put at risk.
COMPLAINT 9
16. The matters referred to under Complaints 1-8 (above) are repeated.
COMPLAINT 10
17. The supervision of boarders and boarding houses and the organisation of staff allocated to supervise pupils is unsuitable and inadequate. The school is over-dependent on young, inexperienced gap-year staff, and rosters do not appear to stay in place for long once Dorset SSD and Ofsted inspections are over. The result is that pupils at the school show increasing behavioural problems and children are exposed to a greater risk of harm than they should be in many aspects of their welfare.
COMPLAINT 11
18. Records of boarders are not kept and are not coordinated with the records of incidents and accidents, the result being that children are exposed to a greater risk of harm than they should be in regard to this aspect of welfare. These failings are another example of the mismanagement of the school and the attitude of the proprietor to child welfare management; for example, members of the care committee find that Mr Lindsay has taken arbitrary action before meetings are held. See also Complaints 4, 5 and 6 above.
COMPLAINT 12
19. Despite the establishment of a Care Committee there are considerable doubts as to its efficacy and as to the level of pastoral care in the School generally. Meetings do not always result in effectual action and the minutes do not clearly indicate in each case what action is required and who has responsibility for his. The Care Committee suffers from the wider problems of mismanagement of the School and the attitude of the proprietor to child welfare management: for example, members of the Care Committee find that Mr Lindsay has taken arbitrary action before meetings are held. See also Complaints 4, 5 and 6, above.
COMPLAINT 13
20. There is, or has been, unsatisfactory management of health and safety issues, in particular as regards fire safety, caused by the expressed attitude of Mr Lindsay towards such matters (see Complaint 3, above). Further, security at the school is poor, which further demonstrates Mr Lindsays failure to manage the school properly.
The half-brother of a senior Conservative MP has been jailed for 13 years for carrying out hundreds of sexual assaults on young boys.
Former teacher Charles Napier, 67, who is related to Maldon MP John Whittingdale, conducted a “campaign of abuse” at the school where he worked in the late 1960s and early 1970s, grooming and assaulting 21 victims as young as eight.
In November, he pleaded guilty to 28 counts of indecent assault – including many covering multiple incidents – and one indecency charge in relation to those crimes.
On Tuesday, he admitted two further historical allegations of indecent assault against two 13-year-old boys after he left the school, the first in 1979 and the second in 1983.
It was also revealed on Tuesday that he has twice previously been convicted of abuse against boys.
The court heard Napier’s offending was prolific, with more than 100 indecent assaults committed against 21 pupils aged between eight and 13 over a period of around two and a half years.
Referring to the scale of the abuse, Loraine-Smith said: “It must have been hundreds.”
Peter Clement, prosecuting, said: “The offences are characterised by a campaign of sexual abuse involving significant planning, grooming and abuse of many pupils.
“It was sexual abuse of particularly vulnerable victims. The defendant ensured each child’s compliance and silence through grooming to the extent that he abused several of the victims many, many times.
“The defendant abused the high degree of trust placed in him by his colleagues, the children’s parents and the children themselves and exploited his role for his own sexual gratification.”
The court heard Napier would give his victims treats including fizzy drinks and chocolate, often abusing them in a carpentry workshop, which, Clement said, “became something of his den”.
Napier told one victim “don’t be a baby” while another suffered “profound effects” from being repeatedly abused and attempted suicide later in life, the court heard.
Some pupils were targeted as often as once a week, with one boy alone said to have been abused more than 100 times.
Napier abused some victims in the presence of other children, the court heard.
On two occasions he made a boy perform oral sex on him, telling the child: “That’s what grown-ups do.”
If those two offences occurred today Napier would have been charged with rape, the court heard.
It emerged on Tuesday that one boy made a complaint that resulted in Napier pleading guilty to indecent assaults on five pupils not involved in this case in 1972. He was sentenced to a three-year probation order at the time.
In another case, he was jailed for nine months in 1995 after he was convicted of assaulting two children. The two victims contacted police after reading news coverage about their abuser’s arrest earlier this year.
Napier joined the school, which cannot be named, after leaving university. When he was arrested last year he told police he already knew then that he was a paedophile. He said he underwent electric shock treatment but it had no impact on his attraction to children.
The court heard that Napier told police he went on to join the Paedophile Information Exchange as treasurer after being dismissed from the school.
He said when interviewed that he felt “ghastly” and “desperately sorry”, telling officers: “I was a very young man, I was completely out of control and completely out of order, putting it about everywhere.”
Benjamin Hargreaves, defending, said his client was “genuinely remorseful” and “realises how appalling his actions were”.
He added: “He knows that he is responsible for a most serious and grave period [of offending] but he is no threat now.”
Convicted paedophile Charles Napier may have “vital” information to help uncover an alleged Westminster sex ring. Former teacher Napier, 67, sexually abused 23 boys over 15 years while a teacher and was also treasurer of the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE). This week Napier admitted 39 counts of indecent assault and one indecency charge on victims, all under 16-years-old. The trial heard he deliberately got a school job because it gave him access to boys to abuse.
Napier, whose half-brother is Conservative MP John Whittingdale, has been asked to disclose any information he may have about historical abuse scandals, such as the Elm Guest House case. It is alleged the guest house in south west London was used by powerful public figures such as former MP Cyril Smith, to sexually abuse youngsters during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Napier was on close terms with paedophile Peter Righton, who was the public face of PIE when the group was at the height of its power, and counted Labour politician, Harriet Harman, among its allies.
After Napier was handed a 13-year sentence, Peter Watt the national services director of children’s charity NSPCC, called on him to give up any information that could assist investigations into the alleged Westminster paedophile ring.
Watt said: “He was evidently linked to other convicted sex offenders, and may have vital information for the various police investigations into historical abuse that are underway. No stone must be left unturned in getting to the truth about the allegations of abuse at locations such as Elm Guest House and others.”
Condemning Napier, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said: “When you applied for the post at the school, you already knew you were a paedophile. I have no doubt you sought that post because of the proximity you would have to boys. What you did has dramatically damaged their lives. The passage of time allows me to see just how gravely your actions have harmed some victims.”
We may never learn the truth about “corrupt” deals involving Margaret Thatcher and her son Mark after another “establishment cover-up”.
The National Archives are releasing hundreds of government records and notes of Cabinet meetings under the 30-year-rule, covering 1986 to 1988, the middle of Margaret Thatcher’s reign at No10.
But two entitled “Cementation contract: Mark Thatcher and the Omanis” covering the period from 1981 to 1988 are listed as being “retained” for 65 years – meaning they will not be released until 2053 when Sir Mark would be aged 99.
Two others – one entitled “Mark Thatcher and the Omanis; other allegations against Mark Thatcher” and “Request by Electronic Data Systems to employ Mark Thatcher” have been “temporarily retained” with no date for release.
The decision to keep the files closed was ultimately taken by former Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, who served as Mrs Thatcher’s political secretary in the last months of her tenure in No10 and who signed off on the secrecy.
John Whittingdale signed off the decision to keep the files closed
The files cover Sir Mark’s time working as a consultant for Cementation International, a subsidiary of the construction and engineering conglomerate Trafalgar House.
When details of a deal to build a new university in Oman emerged in the 1980s, it led to allegations Mrs Thatcher had used her influence with the pro-British Sultan of Oman to secure the contract for her son’s firm.
“There is no legitimate reason for these papers to not be in the public domain and I urge the Cabinet Office to think again.”
In the furore over the Oman deal, it was decided that Sir Mark should leave the UK for America.
Among the other files listed as being retained is a series of No 10 papers about the Royal family, including one entitled
“Career of Prince Andrew Duke of York“, another entitled
“The Prince of Wales’ Special Projects Unit“
and a third marked “Procedures for the Royal Family taking up jobs and other commercial appointments”.
Robert John Alston, retired British diplomat. Alston was educated at Ardingly College and New College, Oxford. He is Chairman of Governors at Ardingly College. He served as British Ambassador to Oman between (1986–1990)
Robert Alston (right) is brother of convicted paedophile PIE member Richard Alston -Richard Alston was the partner of establishment paedophile Peter Righton and was a friend of John Whittingdale’s half brother Charles Napier
Charles Napier & half-brother John Whittingdale
John Whittingdale signed off the decision to keep the files closed.
Two days after news to keep files closed about Oman deals during Robert Alston’s Oman ambassadorship…
Robert Alston 3rd from the right with Prince Andrew – Oman deals
Duke of York supports call for Oman-UK trade agreement
23rd July 2016
AoS chairman Robert Alston with His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Said
Mark Thatcher files stay secret ‘to spare blushes on arms deal’
A Downing Street decision to refuse to release files relating to the controversial business affairs of Sir Mark Thatcher was condemned last night as ludicrous.
The papers concern his dealings with Oman, which caused a scandal for his mother when she was prime minister and led to him leaving Britain.
Under public records legislation, official files are released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, after 20 years unless there are specific reasons for them not to be disclosed.
Margaret Thatcher held talks with Sultan Qaboos of Oman to assist a company that employed her son to win a contract to build a universityTimes Newspapers Ltd
The latest release includes two files entitled “Cementation contract: Mark Thatcher and the Omanis” covering the period from 1981-88. They are listed as being retained for 65 years, meaning that they will not be released until 2053.
High level PIE member and diplomat – Sir Peter Hayman with wife Miss Rosemary Eardley Blomefield (cousin of Charles Napier)
The subsequent police investigation revealed a correspondence of an obscene nature between Sir Peter Hayman and a number of other persons. The papers involved an obsession about the systematic killing by sexual torture of young people and children.
In November 2012, the Mirror reported on Charles Napier who appears to be a central player in thepaedophilescandal engulfing the U.K.
…The probe led police to the kitchen of a flat in South London where they found a letter from ‘Napier – whohad a childassault conviction20 years before – boasting of his life in Cairo as a”British Council teacher.
He bragged of easy access to young boys and how he could send obscene images back to Britain in diplomatic bags.(Charles Napier joined the British Council after his 1972 conviction.
(Henniker was Director of the British Council 1968-72).
Many questions remain unanswered including who were Napier’s referees for his employment with the British Council?
The scandal erupted again when Labour MP Tom Watson raised the matter withDavid Cameron in the House of Commons suggesting a network of paedophiles working in the UK hadlinks to high levels of Government.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Robert Alston was educated at Ardingly College and New College, Oxford. He is Chairman of Governors at Ardingly College.
Paul Righton attended Ardingly College from 1940 to 1944
Righton’s Ardingly College obituary – with mention of Richard D Alston (G1953-63)
Ardingly College – the school has its own Masonic Lodge – Ardingly College Lodge
Robert Alston:
Left: Chairman of the Romney Marsh Skills Festival, Robert Alston together with the Master, Graham Bishop
He became a Freeman of the World Traders (on the firm recommendation of Past Master Peter Gadsden) in 2000, and progressed through the Company to the Mastership in 2007-8. For him highlights of his year were the Sheep Drive across London Bridge in aid of the Lord Mayor’s charities (the brainchild of his wife Pat, also a Liveryman of the Company), and leading a delegation of World Traders to accompany Lord Mayor David Lewis on his official visit to Oman.
Alston served as British Ambassador to Oman between (1986–1990), and as British High Commissioner to New Zealand and the Cook Islands (1986-1990), non-resident High Commissioner to Samoa, and Governor of the Pitcairn Islands between (1994–1998)
THE ANGLO-OMANI SOCIETY – ROBERT JOHN ALSTON, director, 1 Jul 2014–
PATRICIA CLAIRE ALSTON, director, 19 Feb 2009– 3 Jun 2010
The Society holds a number of events at 34 Sackville Street that bring together British and Omani members, friends and guests.
Queen Elizabeth sharing a special handshake with Sultan Qaboos – rumoured to be a paedophile
“Google Sultan Oman… To pass on these rumors and more, here are a few: the King apparently has a cadre of very attractive bodyguards; his harem is full of men, with women there as helpers and only to avoid widespread scrutiny; the Sultan is rumored to be a pedophile who goes off boys once they hit puberty; that people won’t introduce their sons to him; and much more.”
Soon after the police left Pitcairn, Alston wrote a letter to theChief Constable of Kent Police , David Phillips and sent a gift of Picairn coat of arms to be displayed at Kent Police headquarters.
He served overseas in Afghanistan, France, Iran, Belgium (in the British Delegation to NATO) also in Belfast on secondment to the Northern Ireland Office.
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) – 1987
He did National Service with the Royal Sussex Regiment.
The Middle East (as a Persian speaker) and defence, security and proliferation issues were the principal themes of his career.
Ambassadors to Oman—Laing* (left) 2002-2005 & Robert Alston 1986-1990
In 2012, they co-authored ‘Unshook till the end of time’, a history of Britain’s relationship with Oman.
Stuart Laing found himself under a shroud of controversy in late February 2011 when accompanying a trade delegation to the Middle East, led by the British Prime Minister David Cameron, that contained several delegates from UK defence companies including BAE Systems and Thales Group.
Laing attended in his official capacity as Deputy Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University along with the heads of other British universities such as Imperial College London and University College London. Objections were raised that, as such weapons and devices of public order control had recently been used by the governments of Egypt and Libya,it was irresponsible for the University to be involved in such a trip.
Since retiring from the Diplomatic Service Alston has been involved with
education (as Chairman of the Council of Ardingly College from 2005-10 and Chairman of the Governing Body of the Marsh Academy New Romney fro 2007-13);
the Church (on the staff of Archbishop George Carey* from 1999-2002;
the Commonwealth Institute and its successor the Commonwealth Education Trust;
the Pilgrims, where he serves as a member of the Executive Committee; and the County of Kent as a Kent Ambassador and a Deputy Lieutenant from 2007-13.
The Pilgrims Society, founded on 16 July 1902, is a British-American society
The Pilgrims Society: A Study of the Anglo-American Establishment and Its Historical Support for Fascism
“There are several curious things about these Pilgrims functions. In the first place there is present at these dinners an array of notables such as it would be difficult to bring together under one roof for any other purpose and by any other society… Among the guests were John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, Thomas W. Lamont and other members of the House of Morgan… We are entitled to know what the Pilgrim Society is, what it stands for, and who these powerful Pilgrims are that can call out the great to hear a British Ambassador expound to Americans the virtues of a united democratic front.”
John T. Whiteford asking very reasonable questions in his 1940 pamphlet ‘Sir Uncle Sam: Knight of the British Empire’.
Diplomat Robert Alston was on the staff of Archbishop George Carey…
*Ball was not charged when the allegations of abuse against him first emerged in 1993. Instead the police and senior figures in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), then led by the late Barbara Mills, agreed to issue Ball with a caution.
Peter Ball was not charged and this was done with the knowledge of the then archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey.
Ball proceeded to resign as bishop and went to live in a property lent to him by his friend the Prince of Wales.
George Carey and Prince Charles:
Bishop Carey and Elizabeth Butler-Sloss have been accused of covering up for Prince Charles’ paedophile mentor and friend Bishop Peter Ball.
Kincora, links to PIE, Morris Fraser, Secret service etc …Robert Alston, brother of PIE member Richard Alston, was in Belfast on secondment to the Northern Ireland Office.
What does Robert Alston know about Kincora?
Historical Abuse Inquiry ignored report on paedophile doctor: Claim
11/02/2017
Dr Roderick Morrison Fraser
A researcher who helped uncover how a paedophile doctor was allowed to continue working with children has lambasted a major inquiry after it refused to include his damning report.
Dr Niall Meehan, head of the journalism and media communications faculty at Griffith College Dublin, found that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was made aware in 1971 that Royal Hospital Belfast child-psychiatrist, Dr Roderick Morrison Fraser, had abused a 13-year-old Belfast boy in London.
Fraser had pleaded guilty to the sex offences in 1972, however he was not jailed and continued to work with children.
The report exposed major failings by health boards, medical professionals and the RUC after they failed to stop him working within the health service.
Dr Meehan – who produced the report entitled Child Abuse, Corruption and Collusion in Britain and Northern Ireland – said he contacted the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) with a copy of his evidence after references to Fraser were made in its hearings in April last year.
He was told by HAI officials that the inquiry would consider matters “relevant to its terms and conditions”.
However, Dr Meehan has accused the inquiry of ignoring the submission after it was not included in the report.
“I asked the inquiry to investigate why the RUC and London Metropolitan Police failed to inform hospital authorities that Fraser was under investigation since August 1971 for sexual abuse of two Belfast boys in London, aged 10 and 13,” Dr Meehan said.
“But it appears that the inquiry took a very differential attitude towards RUC spokespeople as well as British security and intelligence spokespeople.
“It adapted their narratives and a kind of mindset and wasn’t going to waver from it,” he claimed.
Despite being a convicted sex offender, Fraser continued to remain on the medical register.
A week after his conviction, the paedophile was the main speaker at an ISPCC (Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) conference at Jordanstown.
The Kincora whistleblower and abuse survivor, Richard Kerr, claimed he was abused by Fraser during counselling at the doctor’s medical offices in the Royal Victoria Hospital in the early 1970s when he was aged about 13. Mr Kerr said that Fraser had access to all of the children’s homes in Belfast.
“The police could have told health authorities they were employing a child abuser,” Dr Meehan continued.
He added: “The RUC knew he was a child abuser, they could have told the hospital and said that guy is a paedophile but they didn’t and there is something very wrong there.
“I named the RUC officer who took Fraser’s statement that led to his conviction and who was aware of what he did, but the officer did nothing.
“The officer is still alive today.”
Fraser remained in post for a further year until a publicised arrest in New York in May 1973, when he was exposed as part of a nine-man paedophile-ring.
Dr Meehan claims that one week after that, a ‘certificate of conviction’ relating to Fraser’s 1972 sex offences was sent by police to the Northern Ireland Hospital Authority.
“In other words, it was sent a year late when the police game was up,” he accused.
“It is astonishing that the Hart Inquiry did not investigate why police permitted an admitted abuser to continue interacting with institutionalised children.
“If the inquiry could not accomplish even that simple task, its report is compromised,” Dr Meehan added.
The HIA failed to respond to a request for comment
Statement issued by Colin Wallace following the publication of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Report.
Although I initially offered to give evidence to the Inquiry, I later decided not to, mainly on the grounds that the Government repeatedly refused to give it the same legal powers as the corresponding Inquiry in London.
I believe that both the perception and the reality of the Government’s decision is one ofunfairness to the victims.
Despite my decision, I did, however, provide the Inquiry with 265 pages of comment and supportingdocuments, drawing attention to false or misleading information contained in the transcripts of thepublic hearings. My reason for doing so was to enable the Inquiry to investigate and corroborate theaccuracy of my past comments about Kincora and related matters, and to provide the Inquiry with theopportunity to correct the relevant errors in the its published transcripts.
None of the information I provided to the Inquiry is new.
Although some of it has not previously been in the public domain, it has been in the possession of the Ministry of Defence and other Government agencies for many years and should have been made available by those authorities to the Inquiry.
It should, therefore, also have been made available by the authorities to previous Inquiries and the Government needs to explain why that did not happen. Even more worrying, is the acknowledged fact that key Army Intelligence files relating to Tara and William McGrath – including the one compiled by Intelligence officer, Captain Brian Gemmell – appear to have gone missing after they were handed over by the Army to MI5 in 1989, prior to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s admission to Parliament (30 January 1990) that Ministers had“inadvertently misled” Parliament about my case.
Clockwork Orange
There also appears to be no record whatsoever of what became of all the ‘Clockwork Orange’ project files which I handed over to my superiors when Ileft Army Headquarters in Lisburn in February 1975. Some of those files related to William McGrath.
To make matters worse, it is now clear from the Inquiry’s transcripts that a senior MI5 officer, Ian Cameron, falsely accused me of ‘leaking’, without authority, information to the press about William McGrath.
The MI5 claim is bizarre.
As my Army superior at the time has confirmed in the press, I was officially instructed by my superiors in Psychological Operations, at the behest of Major General Peter Leng, to brief the press about McGrath as early as 1973, in a bid to attract media attention to his activities.
It is also significant that the MI5 officer who accused me of ‘leaking’ information about McGrath to the press later refused to be interviewed by the Terry Inquiry investigators about why he ordered Captain Brain Gemmell, to stop investigating McGrath.
Intelligence Agenda
Clearly, the Army and MI5 had very different agendas regarding McGrath and his activities.The astonishing claim by the authorities that they knew nothing about the allegations surrounding McGrath’s sexual activities until 1980 is a total travesty.
As my documents clearly show, it is simply not credible that I knew more about McGrath and his activities than the combined Intelligence community did in 1973/74. One must conclude, therefore, that the Intelligence Services did not tell the Inquiry all they knew about McGrath during the 1970s.
Indeed, most of the information I possessed about McGrath in 1973/74 came from within the Intelligence community and was quite substantial. Moreover, my 1973 press briefing document clearly contains more information about McGrath than the Intelligence Services have claimed to the Inquiry that they possessed at that time!
For example, that document states that McGrath “is a known homosexual” and that he “runs a home for children on the (236) Upper Newtownards Road. Telephone: B’fast 657838.”
Finally, to suggest that because I gave the press the exact postal address (including the street number of the property), plus the telephone number of the Kincora home, but did not actually include the name,‘Kincora’, that somehow invalidates my evidence.
That is an unacceptable attempt to avoid facing up to what I have been saying over the years, and also shows that the claim made by the Intelligence Services to the Inquiry that they were not aware until 1980 of where McGrath worked is demonstrably false.
Overall, I believe the Inquiry has been a wasted opportunity to establish the full facts relating to this matter and I feel the victims have been let down yet again, as they were by previous Inquiries.
Further Information by Ciarán
Colin Wallace has been a great supporter of the McGurk’s Bar Campaign for Truth and was actually on-site at British Army Headquarters when word of the bombing was reported by Security Forces on the ground.
He has written that the authorities that Army HQ knew that the bar was attacked and this has since been proved beyond any doubt with my latest archive find.
He also wrote the Foreword of my book which you can read here.
DISCLAIMER: THE POSTING OF STORIES, COMMENTARIES, REPORTS, DOCUMENTS AND LINKS (EMBEDDED OR OTHERWISE) ON THIS SITE DOES NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, NECESSARILY EXPRESS OR SUGGEST ENDORSEMENT OR SUPPORT OF ANY OF SUCH POSTED MATERIAL OR PARTS THEREIN.
^ Prince Charles with his spiritual advisor – paedophile Peter Ball in 1992
How Prince Charles’s reputation survived devoted friendships with – to date – three paedophiles: Laurens van der Post, Jimmy Savile and an already cautioned offender, Peter Ball.
Peter Ball: Sex offender bishop dies
June 23 2019
A retired bishop who was jailed for a string of sexual offences against teenagers and young men has died.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) said Peter Ball “was able to sexually abuse vulnerable teenagers and young men for decades”.
He was jailed in 2015 after being found guilty of misconduct in public office and indecent assaults.
The Church of England confirmed Ball’s death and offered “prayers and thoughts” for “everyone affected”.
Bishop Peter Hancock, the Church’s safeguarding lead, said: “We have been made aware of the death of Peter Ball and our prayers and thoughts are with everyone affected by this news.”
Ball, of Langport in Somerset, was Bishop of Lewes between 1977 and 1992 and Bishop of Gloucester from 1992 until he resigned the following year.
After his trial at the Old Bailey he was sentenced to 32 months for offences against 18 teenagers and men between the 1970s and the 1990s.
Pervert Bishop Peter Ball was friends with Jimmy Savile, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, Queen’s chaplain, Rev John Robson, Margaret Thatcher, Ian Gow, Chief Justice Lord Berwick, George Pell, Fergie, Duchess of York…
Enoch Powell was friends with Ian Gow
May 1988: Ian Gow, who brought along his friends, Enoch Powell and his wife.
Ian Gow, PPS to Thatcher, was also friends with Enoch Powell. Gow was good friends with Peter Ball who spoke at Gow’s memorial.
Enoch Powell at Gow’s funeral
Northern Ireland was Gow’s political passion. He knew and understood the province as few Englishmen do. From his days of military service he developed a feel for the people of Ulster, and after long years of study at the feet of Airey Neave, John Biggs Davison and Enoch Powell all of whom were romantic heroes to him he became the inheritor of their political mantle in Northern Ireland.
Tom Lawson, son of Lord Lawson and half-brother of Nigella, was educated at Eton before going to Oxford, and is now deputy head of Christ’s Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex.
Lord Lawson say Police should stop funding investigations into historical abuse.
22/11/2015
alun;
The current headmaster (since 2016) at Eastbourne College is Tom Lawson, half-brother of Nigela and son of the Tory grandee Nigel who argued that no funds should be ploughed into historical child sex allegations.
Tom Lawson came to Eastbourne College from Christ’s Hospital where no fewer than 5 teachers have been convicted for CSA and where a common punishment used to be to send pupils down to Peter Ball’s house!
Some students were sent from Christ Hospital School to paedophile Bishop Peter Ball for punishment.
Another director of Eastbourne College was Alison ‘Butterfingers’ Saunders (2008 – 2014). Despite the collapse of an unprecedented number of abuse cases during her watch as DPP, she still insists she has done a good job:
10 Dec 1991 – Letter from Peter Ball to Enoch Powell
alun:
The address on that note from Bishop Ball to Enoch Powell is significant: It is the postal address for Eastbourne College, where Peter Ball was on the BOD between 1991 and 1992, a school ravaged by cases of child sexual abuse.
Two retired teachers who sexually assaulted a boy while they taught at his college are jailed for a total of 17 years
12 April 2017
Ex-history teacher Andrew Boxer, 67, was sentenced to 15 years in jail
Ex-music teacher Graham Jones, 63, was jailed for two years
Both taught at Eastbourne College, East Sussex, at the time of the abuse, while the victim was a pupil there
Andrew Boxer and Graham Jones were both convicted of several counts of indecently assaulting the same boy between 1988 and 1993, following a week-long trial.
Former history teacher Boxer, 67, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for seven counts of indecent assault – six at the same address in Eastbourne, East Sussex and another in Cambridge.
Yet another director of Eastbourne College (1991 – 2004) was the Duke Of Devonshire Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, another close friend of Savile, BigEars and Bishop Ball, seen here giving Savile a silly handshake:
Prince Charles, Camilla Parker-Bowles and the Duke were close friends.
A punishment at Christ’s Hospital School was to be sent down for a few nights at Peter Ball’s house. I wonder whether those sending them down knew what their fate might be? And who were his ‘special friends’?
It would appear Tom Lawson was what is referred to as a ‘safe pair of hands’, stumbling from one paedo school to the next. He also worked at Winchester College for 15 years, where John Smyth QC abused boys:
Charles and the pervert: Prince tells child sex abuse inquiry he was ‘deceived’ by bishop Peter Ball but says he cannot remember who he was referring to when he said ‘I will see off this horrid man’ in letter to disgraced clergyman 21 years ago
Peter Ball would pray naked with them at the altar and encourage them to submit to beatings. At least five more victims were schoolchildren.
Mr Hughes has now indicated that new complainants came forward following the media coverage of Peter Ball’s sentencing. It was considered that it was not in the public interest to pursue these cases, as Peter Ball has recently been incarcerated.
The former Chancellor’s son was part of a Bullingdon set that caused ‘mayhem’ at a party in Kingston Blount that required 30 police officers to clear up.
EXCLUSIVE: Bullingdon Club 1996- Tom Lawson, the arms dealer’s son and the ‘mayhem’ that took 30 cops to shut down
Jimmy Savile acted as a kind of marriage counsellor between Charles and Princess Diana.
Whitehall is ‘covering up the past’: File on Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage, Lockerbie records and MI5 ‘link’ to Belfast lawyer death among documents blocked by government
28 July 2018
The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives released its latest report
Whitehall is supposed to send files to the National Archives after 20 years
Officials can block the release of files if they compromise National security
The number of blocked files has jumped from 4,300 to 5,900 in a year
Jimmy Savile acted as a kind of marriage counsellor between Charles and Princess Diana.
Jimmy Savile caused concern with behaviour on visits to Prince Charles
Former royal aide says TV presenter would greet young female assistants at St James’s Palace by ‘rubbing lips up their arms’
Savile is understood to have visited Prince Charles’s official London residence several times in the late 1980s when he was acting as a kind of marriage counsellor between Charles and Princess Diana.
Incredibly naive and unwise letters from Prince Charles to Peter Ball. Completely biased and one-sided. Showing only sympathy for the perpetrator. This is 2 yrs after Ball had accepted caution, admitting his guilt!
#iicsa #CSA #CSE #cofe #PrinceCharles
Astonishingly, here Prince Charles refers to the VICTIM, Neil Todd as a “ghastly & horrid man” and threatens to “see him off”, 4 yrs after Ball had admitted abusing him. HRH then buys Ball a substantial house. NEIL LATER TAKES HIS OWN LIFE
Camille Davis Russo@CDavisRusso
Wouldn’t you think with the sort of emotion he displays here he has inordinate affection for this sado-peado?
Peter Ball would pray naked with them at the altar and encourage them to submit to beatings. At least five more victims were school children.
Charles and the pervert: Prince tells child sex abuse inquiry he was ‘deceived’ by bishop Peter Ball but says he cannot remember who he was referring to when he said ‘I will see off this horrid man’ in letter to disgraced clergyman 21 years ago
Prince Charles denied he tried to influence an investigation into Peter Ball
The royal gave written evidence at a sex child abuse inquiry on Friday
Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes, sexually abused 18 men during ’80s and ’90s
27 July 2018
The Prince of Wales has told a public inquiry he was ‘deceived’ by disgraced bishop Peter Ball and said he ‘cannot shed any light’ on the ‘horrid man’ he referred to in a letter to the paedophile.
Prince Charles was friends with the ex-Bishop of Lewes for over two decades after he accepted a caution for gross indecency.
He only cut ties with him after he was convicted of sexually abusing 18 young men aged 17 to 25 over 30 years in 2015.
The convicted Bishop, 86, was released last year after serving half his sentence behind bars.
In written evidence today, Prince Charles refused to elaborate on a letter he wrote to Ball at the time of sexual misconduct claims, telling him: ‘I will see off this horrid man if he tries anything again.’
Ball had told the Prince a single accuser was behind allegations that led to him having to quit as the Bishop of Gloucester.
In a letter to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, the Prince said Ball had told him the complaint against him was false and had arisen from someone who had a grudge against him and was ‘persecuting’ him.
In extracts from one letter between the Prince and Ball, Charles says: ‘I can’t bear it that the frightful and terrifying man is on the loose and doing his worst.’
But in his letter to the inquiry on Friday, the Prince, who said he regrets having been ‘deceived’ by Ball, said: ‘I regret that I am unable to shed any light on references made in a letter dated 23rd March 1997 to a ‘horrid man’ or a ‘frightful and terrifying man’.
‘This seems to be a manner of speaking in the midst of a long letter written more than twenty years ago.
‘I do recall that Peter Ball felt that numerous individuals, including his critics in the media, were doing all in their power to disadvantage him unfairly.
‘I suspect, but cannot be certain, that the reference is to this issue in some way.’
The Prince says he did not know about the nature of the complaint against Ball and had not appreciated the meaning of a caution – the acceptance of guilt.
A lawyer for some of the former bishop’s victims has said it was difficult to see that ‘as anything other than willful blindness’.
Ball had previously boasted of being a confidant of Charles, and his court case heard that a member of the royal family was among a host of public figures who supported him when he avoided charges in 1993.
In a statement the Prince of Wales denied he tried to influence the police probe into Ball, as he also revealed the bishop told him he had quit his job over an ‘indiscretion’.
He is not giving evidence in person, and it is instead being read out from a prepared statement.
Today he was pictured meeting the UK’s first F-35 Lightening Squadron at the RAF base in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
In another letter from the Prince to Ball in 1995 – two years after Ball’s caution – the future king said he wished he could ‘do more’.
He said: ‘I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated.’
Charles also said he had been told by the then Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey the church was looking at bringing Ball back into public ministry.
In the 1995 letter he said it was ‘appalling’ that the Archbishop, now Lord Carey, had ‘gone back on what he told me’.
He said it was clear the Archbishop was ‘frightened of the press – what he calls ‘public perception’.’
Another letter from Charles the following year referred to the process of getting a Duchy of Cornwall property for Ball and his brother Michael, Bishop of Truro.
It said: ‘I long to see you both settled somewhere that suits you and gives you peace and tranquility – and not too far from here so you can come over more easily.’
The pair rented a Duchy property between 1997 and 2011.
Charles’s letter to the inquiry added: ‘My heart goes out to the victims of abuse and I applaud their courage as they rebuild their lives and, so often, offer invaluable support to others who have suffered.
‘I wish I could do more’: What the prince wrote to his friend the bishop as allegations swirled around
Sept 1993, Ball to Charles
Life continues to be pretty nasty for me for, it seems that my accusers still want to continue their malicious campaign. Luckily they are beginning to show some of their fraudulent plans.
Dec 1994, Charles to Ball
I saw the Archbishop the other day and he told me he is trying to bring you back to a public ministry. I do hope this will be all right and suit you, if and when it happens….
Feb 1995, Charles to Ball
I wish I could do more. I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated. It’s appalling that the Archbishop has gone back on what he told me, before Xmas, that he was hoping to restore you to some form of Ministry in the Church.
I suspect you are absolutely right – it is due to fear of the media….If it is any consolation, the Archbishop has written me a letter (between you and me) in which it is also clear that he is frightened of the press – what he calls ‘public perception’, which in fact, perception of events and characters based entirely on lies, invention, speculation and sensation.
Dec 1995, Ball to Charles
The young man who accused me keeps on harassing. The last was a few weeks back with a fax, threatening to say more, when he has agreed not to and ending with the words ‘Your never forgiving rnbbrother in Christ’. That is both vile and blasphemous and oh that the police and CPS had seen and known from the beginning the nature of the young man. How I wish the Archbishop or someone would tell them.
April 1996, Ball to Charles
And I can honestly share the pain of it all having tried to break the crippling and unchristian powers of the ecclesiastical set up, and then being deserted in my hour of need.
June 1996, Charles to Ball
…I am so glad that [X] has been in touch as I requested. I pray the Duchy will be able to find something suitable for you both in due course, but it may take a little time to locate it! I long to see you both settled somewhere that suits you and gives you peace and tranquility – and not too far from here so you can come over more easily…
March 1997, Charles to Ball
[X] tells me that your house has been bought successfully – it looks rather nice – and I only hope the rent won’t be too bad!
I can’t bear it that the frightful, terrifying man is on the loose again and doing his worst… I was visiting the vicar… and we were enthusing about you and your brother and he then told me that he had heard that this ghastly man was up to his dastardly tricks again…. I’ll see off this horrid man if he tries anything again.
Aug 2001, Charles to Ball
I do however firmly believe that one day people will be forced to signing your resignation deed but, as you have been advised, I daresay that the establishment will close ranks and you will get nowhere. But how outrageous that now these people say sorry – and only in private….
Dec 2001, Charles to Ball
I saw [ ] the other day…he mentioned that you were thinking of going to the Archbishop and seemed a bit anxious about it… I daresay by now you will have approached the Archbishop but in your letter you so kindly asked me whether I had any objections – something which you certainly didn’t need to do.
The only thing I would say is that unless you really need to go to the Archbishop of Canterbury – for financial reasons particularly – I would have thought it might be better to let sleeping dogs lie…
Oct 2009, Ball to Charles
I am now nearly a broken man, because of what the Church has put me through after seventeen years of serving in retirement. They have smashed me with the bully of an assessor -…from a Child Protection Officer and no pastoral care, except two nice letters from the Archbishop. Suddenly, I am not allowed to baptise, or go to any parish without informing the Church Warden that I had a caution all those years back…
Ball included a letter that set out he was being risk assessed.
May 2010, Ball to Charles
…the horror that has come to me from the Bishop of Chichester with the Archbishop’s obvious hand in it. I have been told that I may not minister at all when we move, nor may I worship anywhere without signing a Declaration for the Protection of Children.
May 2012, Ball to Charles
Writes to say that the police are re-opening the investigation and are to question him. He says: ‘I thought it had been fully examined twenty years ago.’
July 2012, Ball to Charles
Life is ‘almost unbearable. I am being pursued and persecuted. In ways which it would not be discreet to enlarge on, though I am sure that you can guess their source and virulence’.
Dec 2012, Ball to Charles
Ball wrote to thank the Prince of Wales for phoning him, writing in the letter that the affair of twenty years ago had been ‘stirred up’ again by Lambeth.
‘It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of Mr Ball’s activities.’
He also said, in the six-page statement read by counsel to the inquiry Fiona Scolding, that he had not appreciated the meaning of the caution and that at the time the word of a bishop was generally seen as trustworthy.
He said he did not realise the truth of what had gone on until Ball’s conviction, adding that his main source of information until then had been the bishop himself.
Dismissing any suggestion he had ever tried to interfere in the police investigation into Ball, Charles said it was possible his name had been taken ‘in vain’.
In his statement, dated July 10 this year, Charles said: ‘At no stage did I ever seek to influence the outcome of either of the police investigations into Peter Ball and nor did I instruct or encourage my staff to do so.’
Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, is too ill to give evidence in person, the inquiry has heard.
But in a statement he referred to his relationship as having been one of ‘support and respect’.
Ball said: ‘I would strongly resist any suggestion that in some way I could bring pressure to bear on him to act on my behalf and have certainly never made a request for him to do so.’
On Monday the inquiry heard there had been lengthy discussions between Charles’s lawyers and the inquiry in which his legal team initially argued that the future king could not be compelled to produce a statement.
Clarence House has since said Charles was willing to help the inquiry and had voluntarily answered all questions asked of him.
Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon who represents a number of Ball’s victims, said Charles’s explanation that he was not aware of the meaning of a caution left his clients ‘dissatisfied’.
He said: ‘Prince Charles had access to the best legal advice that money can buy and, as a man in his position, a particular responsibility to check the facts.
‘It is difficult to see his failure to do so as anything other than wilful blindness.
‘His evidence, together with that of Lord Carey, the then archbishop of Canterbury, and other establishment figures who have given evidence this week, will do little to dissuade survivors from the conclusion that the British establishment aided and protected Ball and even now have failed to give a transparent account of their actions.’
Charles said in the six-page letter dated July 10 this year that it was his ‘deep regret’ that he and others had been ‘misled’ by Ball.
Elsewhere in his evidence, Charles said Ball had been invited to his home to give holy communion a number of times, from 1993.
He said: ‘Peter Ball occasionally wrote to me in respect of private, often spiritual, matters.’
Referring to his knowledge of the complaint against Ball, he added that in the 1980s and 1990s there was ‘a presumption that people such as Bishops could be taken at their word and, as a result of the high office they held, were worthy of trust and confidence’.
He said at the time ‘there was on my part a presumption of good faith’.
The inquiry is examining how the Church of England handled allegations of sexual abuse and has previously focused on the Diocese of Chichester – where Ball and several other convicted paedophile priests once officiated.
Ball accepted a caution for one count of gross indecency in 1993 and resigned due to ill health.
Prince Charles’ full statement to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Dear Professor Jay
1. Thank you for inviting me to offer context on how I came to know former Bishop Peter Ball and on my dealings with him over the years, to assist your important Inquiry. I want to begin by applauding your work to ensure that the abuse of children is properly investigated and appropriate measures are taken to ensure they are fully protected. That is why I am pleased, on this occasion, to offer the following information, which I have set out to the best of my recollection after the passage of 25 years.
2. Over the years I have had, and continue to have, many interactions with the Clergy of the Church of England and of other Faiths, often on a daily basis. Set in that context, I first became aware of Peter Ball sometime during the 1980s, when I heard him preach. At that time, he came across as an interesting and engaging person. He was later appointed Bishop of Gloucester, in 1992. Since he had become my local Diocesan Bishop, near my home in Gloucestershire, I attended his Installation. He gave an impressive Address, which brought him to my attention again. At the same time I recall becoming aware of Michael Ball (Peter Ball’s brother) who was later appointed Bishop of Truro, to which I am also closely connected through the Duchy of Cornwall. Over the whole of my life, I have met countless senior Clergy who have been invited to preach and, on various occasions, I have myself invited them to give Holy Communion at my home. I extended such invitations to Peter Ball from time to time, starting in 1993.
3. As is well known, I maintain correspondence relationships with a great number of individuals. Peter Ball occasionally wrote to me in respect of private, often spiritual, matters. On each occasion I naturally replied as I believe that to be the polite thing to do, although there was often a significant delay on my part given other priorities which demanded my attention. My recollection is that these exchanges were normally instigated and driven by Peter Ball, in addition to a handful of telephone calls during the decades of our correspondence. Having refreshed my memory of our correspondence to try to help your Inquiry, I note this is borne out by the contents and dates of the letters in question.
4. With the significant passage of time, I cannot now recall with sufficient certainty when the following exchange took place and whether there was one particular conversation that concerned the reflections I offer below or more than one.
5. Peter Ball told me that he had been involved in some form of ‘indiscretion’, which prompted his resignation as my local Bishop at Gloucester. He emphasised that one individual, who I now understand to be Mr Neil Todd, had made a complaint to the Police; that the Police had investigated the matter; and that the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service had decided to take no action. This sequence of events seemed to support Mr Ball’s claim that the complaint emanated from a single individual; that the individual bore a grudge against him and was ‘persecuting’ him; that the complaint was false; but that the individual had nonetheless profited from the complaint by selling his story to the newspapers. The matter was described by him as ‘closed’. Peter Ball added that various people within the Church did not like him and had themselves used the complaint to curtail his ministry and force his resignation. When this exchange took place, I did not know about the nature of the complaint.
6. The true context and details of this complaint, and I now understand many others, against Peter Ball did not come to my attention until the time of Mr Ball’s trial and conviction in 2015. My main source of information before this was Mr Ball himself, though I should add that I was so fully occupied by my public role that Mr Ball’s situation was rarely at the front of my mind. As context, it seems important to say that in the 1980’s and 1990’s there was a presumption that people such as Bishops could be taken at their word and, as a result of the high office they held, were worthy of trust and confidence. That has changed over the years, as evidence has caused us all to be more challenging of what we hear and what we are told. But, at the time, there was on my part a presumption of good faith. I believe I was far from alone in taking this view.
7. I was certainly not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution that Peter Ball has accepted, or indeed sure if I was even told about it. Whilst I note that Peter Ball mentioned the word in a letter to me in October 2009, I was not aware until recently that a caution in fact carries an acceptance of guilt. I was aware that the Crown Prosecution Service had decided not to pursue a case against Mr Ball. This seemed to support Mr Ball’s defence of his position set out in his letter.
8. I recall that Peter Ball told me that following his resignation as Bishop of Gloucester he would lose the house in which he lived and that, as a consequence, both he and his brother Michael would become homeless. He told me that their monastic vows meant they had very little money. In this context, I occasionally sent the brothers small gifts of money, as I do for many people in need, and Pete Ball’s interest in becoming a tenant of a Duchy of Cornwall property then arose. A significant part of the Duchy’s business is in arranging and managing leases for properties and I mentioned the situation of the Ball brothers to the Duchy, as I do for others from time to time. The details of the eventual rental were handled, as usual, by Duchy staff. I was aware of the transaction but did not assist with the selection of the house. Some time later, in 1997, Peter and Michael Ball became tenants of a Duchy property until early in 2011, when they moved on.
Police investigations
9. At no stage did I ever seek to influence the outcome of either of the Police investigations into Peter Ball and nor did I instruct or encourage my staff to do so.
10. I understand from document ANG000021 that a member of Gloucestershire Police seems to recall that he ‘came under pressure’ in 1992 or 1993 which related in some way to some form of interest from myself and my staff in Peter Ball. This is untrue. Indeed, at the time of this Police investigation I had no knowledge of these particular matters. It follows, therefore, that I did not authorise – and could not have authorised – any such action. And nor would I have done.
11. Likewise, I have no recollection of any contact by one of my Personal Protection Officers or indeed any member of my staff with Gloucestershire Police. I was clear at the time, as I have remained clear, that the Police must be able to carry out their investigation in the proper manner without external pressure or influence. We have looked at our files and can find no record of any of these matters. It is always possible that my name was taken in vain, as can unfortunately happen from time to time. As I make clear elsewhere in this Statement, there is a gap between rumour and fact.
12. In a similar vein, I do not recall receiving a letter from Michael Ball in April 2013 as described by Detective Superintendent Carwyn Hughes (OHY000203). Having looked at our files we cannot find any record of such a letter. The occasional letters that I did receive from Michael Ball were of private and social nature and I am not aware of any interest from Sussex Police in this correspondence. Nevertheless, I have made available to you copies of the private correspondence received from Michael Ball, in case that could help your Inquiry in any way. I understand that a conversation took place between Sussex Police and the Metropolitan Police Royalty Protection team in 2013, and that Sussex Police informed the Metropolitan Police that they visited Peter Ball’s home and removed items which included a letter sent from me. I believe the Metropolitan Police asked whether or not this letter was relevant to the inquiry. I further understand that the Metropolitan Police emphasised clearly that they were not enquiring about the investigation itself and specifically wished to avoid any appearance of influence over it. They wished only to establish the facts about the property that had been removed and its correct ownership. The Metropolitan Police were told that the letter in question was not relevant and that it was to be returned by Sussex Police to Peter Ball.
The Church of England
13. Probably late in 1994 (although I cannot now be certain of the date) I recall seeing the then-Archbishop of Canterbury at an event and taking that opportunity to ask, among other issues, about Peter Ball as he had lately been my local Bishop. I remember the Archbishop was supportive of Peter Ball and thought him a good man and priest. I do not think we discussed any detail, though I recall that the Archbishop was perhaps thinking of ‘trying to bring [Peter Ball] back to a public ministry’ at some stage. I understood there were some complications, but these were not described. As this was clearly a matter for Church authorities, I took no personal position on it.
14. Other than this conversation with the then-Archbishop, I do not recall any specific conversations regarding Peter Ball, although I was aware that Mr Ball was himself keen to persuade the Church to ‘restore [him] to some form of Ministry in the Church’. The general view of members of the Clergy who occasionally mentioned him to me was that he was a capable and well-liked priest.
15. The Inquiry has asked about a note made by Andrew Purkis, of Lambeth Palace, following a lunch he had with my then-Private Secretary, Richard Aylard, on 30th August 1994 (ACE003034). My Private Secretary meets regularly with members of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Office to discuss a range of matters. Having reviewed the document it is clear that the meeting took place in the normal course of business and was for the purpose of discussing matters other than Mr Ball. I cannot shed any light on what appears to be a brief mention of Mr Ball at the end of the meeting. I have no recollection of discussing the matter. I have also been shown a copy of my letter of 14th December 2001 addressed to Peter Ball. As far as I can recall, this letter conveyed that I could not assist Peter Ball in any approach he was thinking of making to the Archbishop to seek a return to public ministry. I recall Peter Ball repeating this request around this time and again some time later and my declining to assist. It follows therefore that I was not involved in ‘any discussion with Lambeth Palace’ on this matter.
Contact with Institutions
16. You have asked about contact between myself and institutions in respect of Peter Ball between 1993 and 2015. To the best of my knowledge and belief I have dealt with these contacts in the information I have volunteered above, and I can only hope this will be of some assistance to you.
17. I have been shown an extract from an interview conducted by the Chair of the Church of England’s Inquiry into Peter Ball last year, Dame Moira Gibb, with Elizabeth Hall of the Church of England, suggested there were some rumours of an interest from me in Peter Ball being given some alternative employment (INQ000682). I can confirm that this is untrue: not for the first time, and as the Gibb Inquiry concluded in respect of my contacts with Peter Ball over the years, there is a gap between rumour and fact. I did not seek any such roles for Mr Ball and did not ask others to do so on my behalf.
18. I regret that I am unable to shed any light on references made in a letter dated 23rd March 1997 to a ‘horrid man’ or a ‘frightful and terrifying man’. This seems to be a manner of speaking in the midst of a long letter written more than twenty years ago. I do recall that Peter Ball felt that numerous individuals, including his critics in the media, were doing all in their power to disadvantage him unfairly. I suspect, but cannot be certain, that the reference is to this issue in some way. It of course needs to be read in the context of my understanding at the time, namely that Peter Ball had been falsely accused of a single offence (the nature of which was unknown to me) by an individual whom the relevant judicial authorities and many others had themselves not believed. Events later demonstrated beyond any doubt, to my deep regret, that I, along with many others, had been misled and the reverse was true. At the time, however, it would have followed that people seeking to disadvantage Peter Ball, including from gaining employment, were behaving unfairly. What I can say with certainty is that I did not express this view to anyone else or take any action associated with it.
19. In conclusion, I would like to state that, throughout my life, my position has occasionally brought me into contact with prominent people who have subsequently been accused of serious wrong-doing. Rather than rushing to private judgement, I have always taken the view that the judicial process should take its course. I am then able to ground my opinions in facts tested by law, rather than hearsay. In many cases, including two very prominent cases of false accusation last year, this has proved a sensible course. It follows that I ceased contact with Mr Ball once the judicial process had concluded and he was found guilty of serious offences against young people. My heart goes out to the victims of abuse and I applaud their courage as they rebuild their lives and, so often, offer invaluable support to others who have suffered. It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of Mr Ball’s activities. That is why I wanted to volunteer the facts in this letter, which I believe to be true, in the hope that they might be able to help your important work.
Yours sincerely
DPA
Prayers at Highgrove and a friendship that lasted decades
By Sam Greenhill for The Daily Mail
Peter Ball, who made his young victims roll in the snow naked before beating them until they bled, once described Prince Charles as a loyal friend.
The pair had prayed together at Highgrove and exchanged more than 50 letters, many of them deeply spiritual.
And even after his ‘indiscretion’ with a boy of 17, the bishop was given a Duchy of Cornwall house to live in, for which he thanked the ‘wonderfully kind’ prince.
Yesterday Charles expressed deep regret that he had ever put his faith in Ball, saying he had been horribly deceived by the paedophile bishop.
Charles said that in the 1980s, when he first knew him, and the 1990s, there was ‘a presumption that people such as bishops could be taken at their word’
It is now believed that sadistic Ball preyed on more than 100 boys and men in a 20-year reign of abuse.
Born in 1932, he went to Lancing College public school in West Sussex and Cambridge University before establishing a monastery in Gloucestershire with his twin brother, Michael.
Ball showed ‘favouritism’ to novice monks, and targeted schools to deliver sermons.
He was made Bishop of Lewes in 1977 and Bishop of Gloucester from 1992, during which time he handpicked 18 vulnerable victims to commit acts of ‘debasement’ in the name of religion.
He would pray naked with them at the altar and encourage them to submit to beatings. At least five more victims were schoolchildren.
As Bishop of Gloucester, Ball’s diocese covered Charles’s country home Highgrove, and the prince was among the guests at his enthronement.
By now, he was one of the church’s best known characters, refusing to wear the ceremonial purple of a bishop in favour of simple, monastic robes, sleeping on the floor and taking vows of celibacy.
Eight months after the enthronement, Ball was arrested. Yesterday the prince recalled: ‘Peter Ball told me he had been involved in some sort of “indiscretion” which prompted his resignation as my local bishop.’
In fact he had been horrifically abusing 16-year-old trainee monk Neil Todd, forcing him to perform sex acts as they lay naked in bed together, take ice-cold, early-morning showers while reading the Bible and stand side by side naked reciting psalms in front of a figure of Christ.
Mr Todd was so tormented he eventually committed suicide aged 38 in 2012.
In his letter to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, Charles said he was unaware of the true nature of the clergyman’s behaviour until more than 20 years after allegations first surfaced.
Ball got away with a police caution in March 1993 despite confessing his guilt. For his part, Charles said he had accepted Ball’s claim that Mr Todd had borne a grudge and made false allegations.
So Ball resumed his ministry, even officiating over communion at Highgrove.
He was also provided with Manor Lodge, a pretty cottage on Charles’s Duchy of Cornwall estate in the village of Aller, Somerset.
Clarence House has been at great pains to say it was the Duchy of Cornwall, the private estate which funds the heir to the throne, and not Charles himself that had purchased the lodge that Ball rented.
It subsequently emerged that police went easy on Ball in 1993 and cited his royal connections.
In documents unearthed by the BBC, retired police detective Wayne Murdock is said to have discussed with Ball’s legal team ‘the need to prevent a scandal, especially as Peter was a frequent visitor to Sandringham and is friendly with Prince Charles’.
It also emerged that the bishop’s lawyers had claimed to have a ‘letter of support from a member of the Royal Family’, who was not named. It is unclear whether this could be the same letter as the one that emerged yesterday.
Either way, no such letter was ever produced in any court hearings, and an official report found there was no evidence any royal had sought to intervene in the judicial process.
But the mother of the trainee monk was scathing about Prince Charles allowing Ball to live on his Duchy estate. Speaking in 1998, she said of the bishop: ‘He is pure evil, a beast, and he’s hiding behind God.
This is quite unbelievable. I don’t know what Prince Charles thinks he is doing.’
Yesterday Charles said he had always believed in allowing the judicial process to take its course ‘rather than rushing to private judgement’.
In 2006 Ball’s status in royal circles was confirmed in spectacular style when he was invited to read the homily at the funeral of the father of Camilla Parker Bowles.
He continued as a Church of England priest until 2010.
But justice was slowly catching up with him. Police re-opened their investigation in 2012 after new allegations, and this time a flood of Ball’s victims came forward.
If Charles was anxious, that might explain why in 2013 a royal aide contacted the chief constable of Sussex Police to ask whether information gathered during its investigation could ‘be embarrassing to Prince Charles or the monarchy in general’. Apparently they were reassured.
In 2015, Ball’s crimes were finally laid bare at the Old Bailey which heard shocking details of his reign of abuse. His trial heard he had been protected by ‘Cabinet ministers, the Royal Family, MPs, JPs and a lord’, not to mention the Church of England.
The Church has since expressed its ‘true sorrow’ at its shocking failures.
Ball, now 86, was released in February last year and lives a free man back in Aller, Somerset.
Clarence House was quick to insist last night that he is definitely not living in any of Charles’s properties.
Extracts from correspondence between Prince Charles and Peter Ball
Peter Ball to Prince Charles
8/12/95 “The young man who accused me keeps on harassing. The last few weeks back
Prince Charles to Peter Ball
16/02/95 “I wish I could do more. I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated. It’s appalling that the Archbishop has gone back on what he told me, before Xmas, that he was hoping to restore you to some form of Ministry in the Church. I suspect you are absolutely right- it is due to fear of the media…If it is any consolation, the Archbishop has written me a letter (between you and me) in which it is also clear that he is frightened of the press – what he calls “public perception” of events and characters based entirely on lies, invention, speculation and sensation.”
Prince Charles to Peter Ball
11/12/94 “I saw the Archbishop the other day and he told me he is trying to bring you back to a public ministry. I do hope this will be all right and suit you, if and when it happens…”
Peter Ball to Prince Charles
16/11/93 “Life continues to be pretty nasty for me for it seems that my accusers still want to continue their malicious campaign. Luckily they are beginning to show some of their fraudulent plans.”
In extracts of letters published today by the inquiry, the Prince told Ball his accuser was a “frightful, terrifying man” who was “up to his dastardly tricks again.”
The Prince adds in the letter to Ball in 1997: “I’ll see off this horrid man if he tries anything again.”
The Prince also accuses Lambeth Palace – the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury – of being “frightened of the press” for forcing Ball to resign his ministry.
In fact, it was clear it was Peter Ball – not his accuser – who was lying to the Prince.
No charges were brought, and he took his own life shortly before an investigation into sexual abuse allegations spanning some 30 years was reopened in 2012.
Charles denies trying to influence inquiry into sex abuse bishop
27 July 2018
Prince Charles has denied that he tried to influence a police investigation into disgraced bishop Peter Ball.
In written evidence to a child sex abuse inquiry, the heir to the throne said claims by a former police officer that he “came under pressure” as a result of interest from himself were “untrue” and argued there was “a gap between rumour and fact”.
The Prince of Wales also revealed that following his resignation as bishop of Gloucester, he had sent Ball’s and his brother “small gifts of money” and also assisted them in getting one of his Duchy of Cornwall property’s.
He said: “It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of Mr Ball’s activities.”
The written statement from Charles was read out during the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) investigation as it examines how allegations against the former Church of England bishop were handled.
Now 86, the former bishop of Lewes and then Gloucester was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 for sexually abusing 18 young men over 30 years. He was released in February last year after serving half his sentence behind bars.
Imagine the fear and loathing at @ClarenceHouse – what happened to Butler-Sloss? Le Ponce was promised this would never happen…first Savile, now this..we need a D notice now….
InquiryCSA Verified account @InquiryCSA
Mr O’Donnell, from Slater and Gordon is making a final submission:
“Here is an abuser (Peter Ball) at the very heart of the establishment, he was selected by the executive and he had the judiciary, the legislature and the monarchy behind him.”
Mr. Nigel Giggin QC closing submission to the #AngilcanHearing from the Archbishops Council:
“No one on the facts that were known at the time should have thought that Peter Ball could be described as, and I quote “a wonderful priest and bishop.”
We are now hearing a read statement from HRH The Prince of Wales.
I want to begin by applauding the your work to ensure the abuse of children is properly investigated and appropriate measures are taken to ensure they are protected.
Over the years I have had, and continue to have, many interactions with the clergy of the Church of England, and of other faiths, often on a daily basis.
I first became aware of Peter Ball in the 1980’s when I heard him preach. At that time, he came across as an interesting and engaging person
Peter Ball occasionally wrote to me in respect of private, often spiritual matters. On each occasion I naturally replied as I believe that to be the polite thing to do.
Peter Ball told me he had been involved in some form of ‘indiscretion’ which prompted his resignation as the Bishop of Gloucester. The matter was described by him as ‘closed’. When this exchange took place I did not know the nature of the complaint.
I was certainly not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution Peter Ball had accepted, or indeed sure if I was even told about it.
I occasionally send the brothers small gifts of money, as I do for many people in need, and Peter Ball’s interest in becoming a tenant of a Duchy of Cornwall property then arose.
Probably late in 1994, I recall seeing the then Archbishop and of Canterbury at an event, and taking the opportunity to ask, among other issues, about Peter Ball as he had lately been my local Bishop.
Other than this conversation, I do not recall any specific conversations regarding Peter Ball, although I was aware that Peter Ball himself was keen to persuade the church to restore him to some form of ministry in the church.
I remember the Archbishop was supportive of Peter Ball and thought him a good man and priest.
“In conclusion, I would like to state that, throughout my life, my position has occasionally brought me into contact with prominent people that have subsequently been accused of wrongdoing.
“Rather than rushing to public judgement I have always taken the view that the judicial process should take its course.
“It follows that I ceased contact with Peter Ball once the judicial process was completed and he was found guilty of serious offences against young people.”
“My heart goes out to the victims of abuse, and I applaud their courage as they rebuild their lives and, so often, offer invaluable support to others who have suffered.
“It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of the many who were deceived over a long period of time as to the true nature of Peter Ball’s activities.”
We are now hearing extracts from letters between HRH The Prince of Wales and Peter Ball. These extracts are available on our website.
InquiryCSA Verified account @InquiryCSA
A letter is now being read which was sent from Lord Lloyd of Berwick to Mr Murdock: “He (Peter Ball) is the most upright, gentle and saintly man, I find it difficult to accept such an awful fate has befallen such a man.”
We are now hearing from Lord Berwick regarding a telephone call he made to Wayne Murdock, SIO in the Peter Ball case from Gloucestershire police.
Judge phoned officer during bishop Ball inquiry
A senior judge and close friend of a bishop accused of sex offences telephoned the detective handling the case in the middle of the police investigation, a public inquiry was told yesterday.
Lord Justice Lloyd, now Lord Lloyd of Berwick, an appeal court judge who became a law lord, called Wayne Murdock, then a detective inspector. “I said to him, ‘You do realise that I’m the investigating officer’,” Mr Murdock told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
Mr Murdock also criticised Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, for not passing letters from Peter Ball’s victims to the police and said a private investigator hired by the church came close to perverting the course of justice.
Ms Scolding is now discussing with Lord Berwick his support of Peter Ball returning to the church ministry. He thought it acceptable to go back to the ministry as he had resigned as a bishop and could not be left with nothing to do for the rest of his life.
Lord Berwick:
“I got to know Ball Peter Ball very soon after he became Bishop of Lewes, because I wast hen the chairman of the Chichester Diocesan Board of Finance, and, accordingly, I would meet Peter Ball at meetings of the Bishops’ Council. But I got to know him well when he became our nearest neighbour in Berwick. He was a very remarkable – he had very remarkable gifts, spiritual gifts….I liked him very much. We then became very good friends, and we still are.”
If you were trying to provide a character reference…, why didn’t you simply write to Peter Ball’s solicitors and provide this information…Why did you think it was appropriate for you to directly write to the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire? …Because obviously it as written from you in your –saying …”I am Lord Justice Lloyd”, wasn’t it?
The Archbishop of Canterbury agreed that Peter Ball should be given names letters of complaint about him. (Peter Ball)
It was very bad practice wasn’t it?
Nobody’s Friends
In 2018 the club was subject of a question in the IICSA hearing into abuse in the Church of England. Lord Lloyd had sent a letter of influence in the Peter Ball case to Archbishop Carey prefaced with the phrase “May I presume on a brief acquaintanceship at dinners of Nobody’s Friends?”[17] When asked about the club in his evidence to the Inquiry, Lord Lloyd described Nobody’s Friends as “simply a club, half consisting of the clergy, members of the clergy, and half consisting of members of the laity, which dine together probably twice a year, very often in Lambeth Palace.”
The IICSA counsel pointed out that the Daily Mail had once described it as “centred on a strong core of bishops, ex-Tory ministers and former military top brass, a highly secretive, all-male group representing Britain’s most entrenched professions and institutions.” Lord Lloyd replied, “That’s a typical Daily Mail description of something they don’t particularly like, but I can assure you that Nobody’s Friends is a perfectly ordinary dining club…” The same article that IICSA drew upon in the hearing indicated that Prime Minister Tony Blair had been keen to join the club in 2003.[18][19][20]
Stephen Parsons commented in an influential blog, following the IICSA hearing, that the forum Nobody’s Friends provided for influence in the Peter Ball case suggested a “toxic masculinity” in the Church of England. He went on to say:
A men-only dining club that meets regularly at Lambeth Palace, known as Nobody’s Friends, appears to be a gathering for socially very well-connected Anglicans. Although originally high church in its origins, the club provides an opportunity for a privileged church group to network and sometimes lobby those in authority in the Church …… The Nobody’s Friends dining group has been described as ‘private’ rather than a secret group, but it still represents an exclusive world of male privilege within the heart of the Anglican establishment. When Bishop John Bickersteth once revealed that his appointment to Bath and Wells followed his being ‘spotted’ at a Nobody’s dinner, we began to get the feeling that the values of our church may incline towards corporate and institutional interests rather than a personal morality based on the Sermon on the Mount.[21]
Gilo writes: Safeguarding the Secrets part 1 – Nobody’s Friends
I was recently given a copy of Nobody’s Friends 1800-2000, a biography and historical diary of the Lambeth Palace dining club which featured in the Peter Ball hearings at IICSA. It emerged at the Inquiry that Lord Lloyd of Berwick had cited their mutual membership of the secretive club to Archbishop Carey in one of many ‘letters of influence’ in support of Ball. Nobody’s Friends is a gathering which quietly fosters establishment links between church and Westminster (mostly the Tory bits of it) and meets in the Guards Room at Lambeth Palace. Newly elected members ‘justify’ themselves during congratulatory speeches which honour any advancement in the various pecking orders (episcopal, judicial, political) of its members. It undoubtedly offers a fulcrum of patronage to any senior cleric lucky enough to be elected member, who might aspire to a mitre.
Membership has included many bishops and archbishops, headmasters from a sprinkling of top schools, various Archbishop’s Appointments Secretaries, Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretaries, Leaders of the House of Commons and House of Lords, Tory peers, Admiralty figures, judicial figures and church lawyers. Such heavyweights as Sir Michael Havers (later Lord Chancellor), Lord Pym, Douglas Hurd, Lord Justice Bingham (former Master of the Rolls) have graced its tables. Several of the senior clerics on the board of Ecclesiastical have also enjoyed membership, and one of the headmaster directors of the church’s insurer. The current club President is believed to be Sir Philip Mawer, who was on the directors board of Ecclesiastical when he was also at same time Secretary General of Synod.
Jonathan Fletcher, Archbishop Welby’s friend and a regular participant at the Iwerne camps from the early 1950s has been a member since 1983. His father, Lord Fletcher, was also a member. The club seems to have had a culture of nepotism in which the scion of ennobled members themselves become elected members.
But another name kept ringing bells. Sir William Van Straubenzee, Tory minister in Northern Ireland under Heath and later a prominent Synod member and Church Estates Commissioner, became a member in 1973. In 1988 he was elected Vice President of the club, and in 1991 elected President of Nobody’s – a position he held until his death in 1999. Clearly very well connected, his London home was a grace-and-favour apartment in Lambeth Palace in the Lollard’s Tower. This pied-à-terre gave name to a group of Tory wets, the Lollards, who met there during Thatcher’s premiership.
Straubenzee was cited in government files in relation to abuse at the Kincora boys home in Belfast. Sir Anthony Duff sent an MI5 dossier on Straubenzee to Sir Robert Armstrong (now Lord Armstrong) in 1986. Kincora may have have been run under the watchful eye of the secret services who used it as a ‘dirty tricks’ blackmail operation, although the findings of the Hart report (Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry HIA Inquiry 2014-2016) disputed this. The involvement of MI5 in Kincora has never meaningfully been investigated. And although three men who shared in the running of the home were prosecuted and jailed in the 1980s – figures from the political and establishment worlds named in connection with the abuse and trafficking of boys from this and other homes in Belfast did not face questioning.
Armstrong himself was also a member of Nobody’s from 1984, and may be still as far as anyone knows. It’s unlikely that other members had awareness at the time when the senior mandarin from Number 10 received this intelligence from MI5. Armstrong appears to have remained tight-lipped, although it is recorded that these files were passed to the Prime Minister. So two men, one of whom had grounds from the security services to suspect possible abuse activities by the other – both toasted the club’s customs and membership alongside assorted archbishops during coffee and mint thins. It’s a disconcerting image.
Equally as disconcerting, there seems to be no indication that the Church of England shared this information with IICSA. Nor following the Peter Wanless and Richard Whittam QC Review when the material from the Cabinet Office first came to public light in 2015 after their report.
Despite judicial interest in these matters, the suffering of victims and survivors, and the need for transparency – the Church of England did not seem to offer this information to these inquiries? Presumably many current Nobody’s Friends, including many bishops, have copies of this rare publication. It did not occur to any of them, nor to the club Treasurer, that this might be helpful information – not least because it might shed light on the culture of protectionism afforded by these private clubs.
Another Lambeth Palace dining club offers a deeper picture of privilege and protection. In 1993 a former chairman of the Nikaean Club and head of Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge went to court for abusing a boy between the ages of 14 and 16. Canon (later Bishop) Christopher Hill, also a member of the Nikæan Club, accompanied Patrick Gilbert to court. Gilbert was also able to brandish a character witness letter from another Nikaean member – former Archbishop of Canterbury, Donald Coggan. Gilbert, who was also secretary of the wine committee at The Athenaeum, admitted a previous conviction for indecent assault on two 13-year-old school boys in 1962. Despite this and despite the seriousness of the charge, and almost certainly owing to the protecting influence of a Lambeth Palace dining club, he received a suspended sentence and sympathy from the judge for the considerable stress he had endured. As the judge explained, he decided not to jail the bachelor because of his health and ‘very severe punishment’ he had already undergone through loss of reputation. Both Hill and Coggan were also members of The Athenaeum. It’s not who you know… but who you dine with.
Returning to Nobody’s it is oddly disturbing that its members are likely to have their own copies of this book, and many older members will remember Straubenzee as President of the club. They will have presumably been aware of media reports in recent years of the mention of Straubenzee in secret service reports to the Cabinet Office.
A culture of ‘say nothing unless asked’ is a culture still reluctant to move on from subtle complicity and subterfuge. This mindset has already led to the current existential crisis of the bishops and senior ‘management’ of the Church. The time for keeping of secrets Luca Brasi-style to protect the reputation of a Lambeth Palace eliterie should long be over. The Church should no longer entertain disposition to this kind of omerta. A church with secrecy riven in its bones is not a church with a healthy and redemptive future. It is hardly worth the candle.
Incidentally I was interested to find that two senior figures I had told of my abuse – were both members. Stephen Platten, former Bishop of Wakefield, and John Eastaugh, former Bishop of Hereford.
With no little irony, I give the last word of this essay to Lord Lloyd. When questioned at the Inquiry, his description of Nobody’s Friends was that it was a “perfectly ordinary dining club”.
Looking back at his history, it appears Lord Lloyd of Berwick was Prince Charles’ attorney general at the same time Nicholas Soames was his equerry… Would they have worked together in any capacity?
Nicholas Soames:
I knew Harvey Proctor slightly. He had been in the House for four years when I was first elected in 1983. We were not political soulmates, but I was one of those Members of Parliament proud to rally around to help him to set up his shop in Richmond following his conviction in 1987, which resulted in his leaving the House.
The Aegis connection? Oh, and here’s the Wardrobe with the Little Key out canvassing in 1983 with Ted Heath, the man who would have been questioned under caution for the abuse of children.
The Aegis connection? Nicholas Soames was always on hand to give the paedophile Harvey Proctor a leg-up in times of need:
Bud McFarlane relevant here… not only a director of Aegis Defence (like Soames & Boateng) also involved with Iran Contra (and it’s ties to @FranklinScandal). Le Cercle Member too…
7/ Another Western Goals man, Robert McFarlane was involved in ContraGate and on the board of Aegis, Soames’ defence company. Soames (Wardrobe with Little Key) is of course a close friend of Denby mate Proctor and likely facilitated his St. (V)Ermin’s PR conference.
The Aegis connection? Chairman Soames and Princess Diana:
The Aegis connection? Another non-executive director of Aegis is Paul Boateng, a man with connections to paedophile John Carroll and the Angel Rd. children’s home.
Anthony John Leslie Lloyd, Baron Lloyd of Berwick, Kt, PC, DL (left)with Sir John Birch Director of Aegis
One of Prince Charles closest friends, Nicholas Soames is chairman of Aegis
Charles later admitted his adultery and Soames apologised. When questioned by the inquest into the death of Diana, Soames said that he saw his job as “to speak up for the Prince of Wales”, he denied threatening Diana, and warning her, “accidents happen” in the months before she died.[6]
The Aegis connection? Despite Bishop Ball’s seriously perverted character, Lloyd of Berwick still fawns over him:
In 1969 Lloyd was appointedAttorney-General to the Prince of Wales, serving until 1977.
He was made a Privy Counsellor
He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) of East Sussex in 1983.
We are now hearing from Ms Kate Wood, the Safeguarding Consultant for the Diocese of Chichester and retired detective inspector looking at child sexual abuse and domestic abuse. She contacted the Church of England in 2007 to support investigations into child sexual abuse
In 2008/09 Ms Wood notes that Peter Ball did not have a risk assessment while he was working in Bath & Wells. She conducted a past cases review in 2009. She described a “disturbing pattern of behaviour” from Peter Ball.
Ms Wood raised concerns in 2008/09 that a 17 year old who was attending school, who Peter Ball to masturbate in front of him. The file notes said it was no offence, but it was an offence of gross indecency.
Ms Wood recalls asking Peter Ball what indecent assault is. He replied “oh yes, I did do that.” She then explained what gross indecency was. He again replied: “I did have an emmission.” Ms Wood was surprised that Peter Ball had admitted behaviour after years of denial.
The Inquiry is now hearing from Dame Moira Gibb. Last year, Ms Gibb published a report into the Church’s handling of the Peter Ball case:
Ms Scolding has asked Ms Gibb about the limits of her report into Peter Ball. She confirms that she had no difficulties in accessing information from the Church of England, however had difficulties with Northamptonshire Constabulary and Gloucestershire Constabulary.
Ms Scolding notes that former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey raised a number of concerns in his witness statement about conclusions in Dame GIbb’s report. In the report Ms Gibb noted degrees of cover up and collusion in relation to Peter Ball.
“Failure to pass the letters to the police (detailing allegations in relation to Peter Ball) must give rise to a perception of deliberate concealment.” Dame Moira Gibb tells the #AnglicanHearing
Dame Moira Gibb is now explaining why she used the word “careless” in her report. She notes carelessness in the attitude of the Church towards the victims of Peter Ball.
Prince Charles aide asked police if anything could ’embarrass’ him during inquiry into paedophile bishop
25 July 2018
An aide to the Prince of Wales contacted police in 2013 to ask about “embarrassing” material it may have collected during an investigation into a paedophile bishop, the independent child sex abuse inquiry has heard.
A member of the Prince’s staff contacted the chief constable of Sussex Police to ask whether information gathered during its investigation into Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester, could “be embarassing to Prince Charles or the monarchy in general”.
Ball, now 86, was convicted in 2015 of misconduct in public office after admitting the sexual abuse of 18 young men.
According to the evidence of Detective Chief Inspector Carwyn Hughes, who worked on the investigation, the disgraced bishop had a “long-lasting friendship” with the Prince of Wales and the pair had exchanged several letters.
The contact was made after Peter Ball’s brother Michael Ball sent a letter to the Prince.
On Wednesday the officer told the inquiry he examined the police’s records to see if they had collected any material which could “damage the reputation of Prince Charles”, and did not find any.
Calling the contact “highly unusual” on account of the prince’s status, he said it prompted him to consider whether the prince could be a witness in the inquiry.
He insisted that Prince Charles was not treated differently from “the man on the street”, and that while he would have been notified if there was any relevant information, this would also have been the case for a member of the public.
“If there was evidence in the investigation that was of relevance to the person on the street, they would also be a potential witness,” he said, adding that he felt “no pressure” and did not feel the investigation had been influenced as a result of the contact.
The inquiry also heard that pre-charge publicity around Bishop Ball encouraged 12 victims to come forward to police.
The Inquiry is due to hear read evidence on Friday from the Prince of Wales, who maintained contact with the bishop after Ball was cautioned in 1993 for gross indecency.
He is expected to say in his statement that he did not know the caution involved an admission of guilt.
On Wednesday morning the inquiry heard from Wayne Murdock, formerly of Gloucestershire Police, who had presided over the earlier inquiry, which ended with the caution.
Mr Murdock said that he believed the outcome of his investigation could have been different had then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey handed over letters sent to Lambeth Palace by victims and their families.
“He knew we were carrying out an investigation, and for some reason he withheld them,” he said.
On Tuesday Lord Carey admitted that the letters should have been handed over, but added that he had “assumed the police were investigating this thoroughly”. The inquiry continues.
Another extraordinary day @InquiryCSA we hear a former Bishop @DioTruro may have perverted the course of justice and that Prince Charles’ staff officer asked Sussex Police in 2013 if they had any embarrassing information about the Prince of Wales.(They said No.) @churchofengland
Peter Ball received around £12,500 between 1992 and 1994 from @churchofengland Lord Carey tells @InquiryCSA as a retired Bishop Peter Ball needed help and I was glad to give it.
Peter Ball’s defence solicitor wrote to the Crown Prosecution Service saying he had received 1284 letters in support and to consider the impact of a prosecution on @churchofengland@InquiryCSA
Cassandra Cogno@CassandraCogno
Just like Dame Butler “we don’t want to give the press a bishop” Sloss …
Janet Cope, Jimmy Savile’s secretary, showing his files – letter from Prince Charles next to a clipping about the Cleveland Inquiry
Dame Alun Roberts @ciabaudo
Now here’s a thought: Is the Sloshed Butler Royalty’s safe pair of hands when embarrassing material may emerge and a coverup is needed?
Given her past failures and her closeness to paedophiles, it was the incredible and shameful choice of Butler Sloss as first chair of @InquiryCSA which really took the biscuit though:
Butler Sloss was commissioned to look into abuse in the Diocese of Chicester. During that review she uttered the infamous words she didn’t want to ‘give the press a Bishop.’ The Bishop was Peter Ball.
According to the BBC, investigating officer Detective Inspector Wayne Murdock is said to have discussed with Ball’s legal team in the documents “the need to prevent a scandal in the press, especially as Peter was a frequent visitor to Sandringham and is friendly with Prince Charles”.
In a separate document released by Gloucestershire Police in response to an Freedom of Information request, Mr Murdock writes that after a meeting at Lambeth Palace, it was suggested that “any form of Church investigation instigated by the Archbishop of Canterbury would be ‘fairly low key and private’.”
He said the Church had displayed a “considerable amount of naivety” over the case as it took no action when advised in early September 1992 of “irregularities” concerning Ball.
Gloucestershire Police received messages of support for the former clergyman from MPs, former public school heads, JPs and a Lord Chief Justice, and Mr Murdock said: “According to defence sources they claim to have in excess of two thousand letters of support for Bishop Peter Ball, including letters from Cabinet ministers and Royal Family.”
Mr Hughes carried out an investigation into Lord Carey following the Peter Ball sentencing considering whether any legal action was to be taken as there were letters not disclosed to the police from Carey.
craftymuvva@craftymuvva
This should have made headline news this evening. I bet it didn’t:
Ms McNeill is now asking whether it was unusual to receive a call from the Prince of Wales office regarding Operation Dunhill. Mr Hughes has confirmed that it was indeed unusual for this call to have been made.
Operation Dunhillbegan as a direct result of the safeguarding officer at Lambeth Palace raising concerns about Peter Ball following a church initiated review of files.
A man who was 12 when he alleges he was abused by the former bishop of Lewes was among those who came forward, according to a spokesman for Sussex police’s Operation Dunhill
Mr Hughes on the delay of the CPS decision on charges of Peter Ball: “There was a growing theory that there had been some sort of establishment cover up.”
We are now looking at a case conference with the CPS, where Mr Hughes was made aware of a letter sent to Peter Ball regarding his police cautions.
Mr Hughes: “As far as I was concerned, this was highly unusual.”
It gave Mr Hughes little time to speak to complainants before a press conference was to be held. Mr Hughes confirms it would be useful for the CPS to give more time to notify victims before issuing details to the press.
Mr Hughes on discussing two complainants in the Peter Ball case. “I can see from their prospective that they did not get justice in this case.”
Mr Hughes has now indicated that new complainants came forward following the media coverage of Peter Ball’s sentencing. It was considered that it was not in the public interest to pursue these cases, as Peter Ball has recently been incarcerated.
Sean O’Neill @TimesONeil
In the light of Cliff Richard judgment: senior detective says pre-charge publicity around Bishop Peter Ball encouraged 12 victims to come forward to police
InquiryCSAVerified account@InquiryCSA
Mr Hughes carried out an investigation into Lord Carey following the Peter Ball sentencing considering whether any legal action was to be taken as there were letters not disclosed to the police from Carey.
Mr Hughes concluded that there was no legal action to take against Lord Carey. He found that there was gross misconduct at that time at Lambeth Palace but considered that it did not cross any threshold for criminal proceedings.
We are now hearing read evidence on behalf of Ian David Stafford Beer CBE.
Mr Beer: “He first met Peter Ball through his mother in law. The Ball twins created the society of the Glorious Ascension.”
Peter Ball claimed to Mr Beer that he had been given a letter by the then Archbishop of Canterbury giving permission to officiate anywhere in the UK, however, the Bishop of Gloucestershire declined to give permission for Peter Ball to officiate the wedding of his son
Inquiry counsel Fiona Scolding QC is hearing evidence from Mr Wayne Murdock, formerly of Gloucestershire Police
Mr Murdock states that it’s not true to say that he would cease the investigation if Peter Ball would accept a caution. These matters needed proper investigation. ‘I wouldn’t cut corners’
Mr Murdock, when showed notes from PB’s solicitors on meeting – that he would supply them with notes of the investigation – said ‘Rubbish … I would be knocking on the door of perverting the course of justice, and I would not do that’ – watch live:
Mr Murdoch: ‘I made it clear [at the meeting with PB’s legal team] that I would report back to the DPP, the offer of the caution, and I clearly made no promises… I certainly did not recommend a caution.
Mr Murdock wrote a 633 page report to the Crown Prosecution Service which contained all witness statements and at the end, Mr Murdock, as SIO could give his views, opinions and summarise what he believed what offences should be charged.
Mr Murdock’s report recommended the DPP considers charges of gross indecency and indecent assault. and also wish to consider additional offences which resulted from the police investigation – Offences under section 18 of offences against the person ACT (sec 18 is GBH)
FSQC – You say in your report that you invite the CPS to consider that Peter Ball has been less than truthful [in his evidence] – and has been quite calculating in the manner in which he presents himself.
FSQC: You also flag to the CPS that the reputation of the Church would suffer if PB was prosecuted-that didn’t really matter did it? Mr Murdock: It’s my job to point out the risks to the CPS the decision lies with them whether or not to prosecute.
Credne’s Cod Peace @CrednesCodPeace
It’s quite strange that one of the best mate’s with many paedophiles including Jimmy Saville is allowed to get away without giving verbal evidence or being cross examined. Long live the monarchy, we like our feudal lords & masters.
Prince Charles tried to keep links to paedophile bishop Peter Ball private
July 24 2018
Prince Charles argued that information about his connection with Bishop Peter Ball was “private and confidential”
The Prince of Wales staged a lengthy legal fight against demands from a public inquiry for him to provide evidence about his long friendship with a paedophile Anglican bishop, it has emerged.
Lawyers for Prince Charles protested that requests for evidence from the child abuse inquiry about his connection with Bishop Peter Ball were beyond its powers, unfair and a breach of the prince’s human rights by seeking to obtain “intensely private and confidential” material.
Alexis Jay, chairwoman of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), issued a statutory notice requiring the prince to provide evidence but met continued resistance from Clarence House.
When the prince’s evidence was submitted last week the inquiry was surprised that it came in the form of a letter to Professor Jay rather than a formal witness statement “finalised with a statement of truth and signed”.
Richard Scorer, solicitor for six of Ball’s victims, told an inquiry hearing that the prince’s refusal to provide a statement in the usual way “will feed concerns that the letter is less than entirely frank about his relationship with Peter Ball”.
The Times revealed last week that the prince’s draft evidence admitted that he maintained a friendship with Ball, 86, former Anglican Bishop of Gloucester, for more than 20 years after the cleric accepted a police caution for gross indecency in 1993.
The prince invited Ball to his Highgrove home and to royal occasions, gave him “small gifts of money” after he was forced to resign his ministry and helped to arrange a Duchy of Cornwall house for him to live in.
His evidence said he did not understand that a criminal caution involved an admission of guilt and did not cut contact with Ball until he was convicted and jailed at the Old Bailey in 2015. The prince expressed “deep personal regret” that he had been deceived by the bishop.
The investigation of the Ball case is part of the IICSA’s wider inquiry into the handling of child abuse cases by the Church of England.
The inquiry counsel Fiona Scolding, QC, said the IICSA had heard from 32 men who were victims of grooming, abuse and sexual exploitation by the bishop when they were teenage boys or young adults.
At the time of the initial police inquiry into Ball in 1992-93, police and prosecutors received 24 letters from prominent figures — including senior clergy, MPs, an appeal court judge and public school headmasters — lobbying on his behalf.
Ball exploited his royal and establishment connections in a voluminous letter-writing campaign in which he pressed, with success, for his return to Church duties. He was given permission to officiate at services and between 1996 and 2002 preached at 25 schools.
William Chapman, counsel for some of Ball’s victims, said the cleric had been able to “call upon the willing assistance of the establishment — including the heir to the throne”.
He told Professor Jay and the inquiry panel: “These establishment helpers claim they were duped by Peter Ball. You will have to consider whether that is credible — given what they must have known or could easily have found out about Peter Ball. Prince Charles has many advisers, he only had to ask what a ‘caution’ meant.”
Mr Scorer also argued that the prince could have inquired about the accurate legal position concerning Ball. “Prince Charles apparently decided not to seek clarification of the legal position. To my clients, this extraordinary lack of curiosity looks like wilful blindness,” he said.
Ms Scolding said that the format of the prince’s eventual evidence “was not what had been requested” but the IICSA was satisfied that it did answer the questions put to Prince Charles.
She said: “The last sentence of the letter does make clear that the material set out within it is true. The inquiry considered that this complies with the requirements of a statement of truth and that the letter received contained all the evidence required.”
Ms Scolding said the inquiry had withdrawn the statutory demand for the prince to provide evidence and had “adjusted its requests in some respects”. She added, however, that the IICSA “did not resile from its demands the need to obtain this evidence or accept the contention that the prince should be treated in a way that was different from any other witness”.
The prince’s evidence will be read at the inquiry on Friday but he will not be called to answer questions.
A Clarence House spokesman said: “The prince made it clear that he was willing to help the inquiry and voluntarily answered all the questions asked in the form of ‘free flowing text’ as requested by the inquiry itself. The final submission includes a statement of truth in common with all witness statements.
“The legal exchanges, which have been extensively referred to by the inquiry’s solicitors, were necessary to ensure clarity regarding both the structure, relevance and content of the statement. Once resolved, the inquiry raised no objection to the format of the prince’s submission.”
Lord Carey to face questions
Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, faces intensive public questioning today about his handling of the case of the disgraced bishop Peter Ball.
Lord Carey, 82, will appear at the child abuse public inquiry to explain why he wrote to senior police and prosecutors in support of Ball when the Bishop of Gloucester as he was then was under criminal investigation in 1993. When he was lobbying on Ball’s behalf, the former archbishop was aware that Lambeth Palace had received further allegations of sexual misconduct against Ball. Only one letter was passed to the police.
The peer will also be asked to explain why he tried to rehabilitate Ball after his criminal caution by giving him permission to conduct church services.
The inquiry was told yesterday that in 2014 Lord Carey again wrote to officers claiming that the bishop had “served the church with great distinction”.
Ms Scolding QC asks former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey why Peter Ball was given money to go on holiday, when his victims received no counselling. He responds, we didn’t care enough for the victims at the time, and I would gladly have given money for that end.
Ms Scolding QC asks do you think it was appropriate to give a bishop who had been found guilty of gross indecency discretionary funds? At the time we felt that Peter Ball needed help, after careful scrutiny of his finances Lord Carey responds.
A letter from Peter Ball to Lord Carey in 1994 he asks for £10,000 to help with legal funds. In the letter, Peter Ball describes allegations as a “little nuisance”.
Ms Scolding QC asks do you think it was appropriate to give a bishop who had been found guilty of gross indecency discretionary funds? At the time we felt that Peter Ball needed help, after careful scrutiny of his finances Lord Carey responds.
Ms Scolding QC asks Lord Carey why Peter Ball was allowed to attend Stowe School and Radley College in 1996/97. He says he thought there would be proper supervision. Ms Scolding also notes there is no evidence schools were warned about Ball’s previous behaviour.
Daisy Law@theDaisyLaw
What, like the supervision which the church undertook by their conspiracy to cover up his crimes against children? Carey is looking like a fellow poacher rather than a gamekeeper trying to protect the flock. Corruption & shady networking are phrases which come to mind.
alun:
Surely I-Don’t-Carey must have been aware of this:
@craftymuvva
For a man that wrote numerous letters proffering his opinions on political matters to the PM (this proving his continued interest and knowledge of current affairs), Charlie is certainly very selective about what he knew…
Linda Woodhead@LindaWoodhead
IICSA … on the Peter Ball scandal: hears of the extraordinary lengths to which Prince Charles’s lawyers went to wiggle out of complying with IICSA’s request that the Prince give a witness statement to the Inquiry like everyone else. Even invoking European convention HRights!
William Chapman, counsel for survivors @InquiryCSA : “Were they really as ignorant as they claimed about the nature of Peter Ball’s activities? Prince Charles has many advisers, he only had to ask. So did the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
Under current @churchofengland procedures Peter Ball is still able to call himself, Bishop, with the title, Right Reverend”
Prince Charles refused to give formal statement to sex abuse inquiry
23 July 2018
Prince Charles refused to provide a formal witness statement to the child sex abuse inquiry, lawyers told a hearing on Monday.
The inquiry is currently hearing evidence relating to abuse carried out by Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester, who knew the prince and exchanged letters with him.
Lawyers for the Prince of Wales used human rights law to object to block efforts to compel him to send a witness statement in the format used by the inquiry, instead sending a signed letter.
Fiona Scolding, lead counsel to the investigation into the Anglican church, said that his lawyers had previously argued that compelling him to give evidence was outside its powers.
Ball was convicted in 2015 of misconduct in public office after admitting abusing 18 teenagers and young men between the 1970s and 1990s.
His abuse had first been reported to the church in 1992, but police and CPS decided to give him a caution, and he was stripped of his role as bishop.
Ms Scolding said there would have been “no doubt” about what the inquiry’s lawyers were asking for, as they sent a template for the document and used the word “statement” five times in one letter asking for the document to be signed.
“Despite lengthy correspondence, including assertions from the Prince’s solicitors that the Inquiry’s requests for evidence were outside its powers, i.e. ‘ultra vires’, there was never any suggestion at any point that the statement would be provided by letter,” she said.
The prince’s law firm Harbottle & Lewis also tried to argue that asking for a witness statement was “unfair”, and constituted a request for “intensely private and confidential” personal data.
Following “lengthy and extensive correspondence” an agreement was reached and the inquiry has decided to treat the letter, which ends with a sentence saying that its contents are true, as equivalent to a witness statement, she said.
The Prince will not give evidence in person but will have the statement read out at the hearing on Friday.
Earlier in the hearing Richard Scorer, of law firm Slater and Gordon, who is representing victims and survivors, expressed “surprise and concern” at the decision.
“This will inevitably raise concerns that the letter may be less than entirely frank about his relationship with Peter Ball and that it contains matters to which he s reluctant to attach a formal statement of truth,” he said.
The prince’s statement is expected to say that he was “not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution that Peter Ball had accepted”, including the fact that a caution involves admission of guilt.
On Tuesday the Inquiry is expected to hear evidence in person from former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, who was found in an independent inquiry last year to be among senior church figures who “colluded” with Peter Ball.
Earlier in the day the inquiry heard that the church was dealing with a “turbulent” period in 1992, with Lord Carey raising the “constitutional crisis” caused by the Prince’s split with Diana, Princess of Wales, as well as the decision to allow women to be priests.
A Clarence House spokesman said: “The prince made it clear that he was willing to help the Inquiry and voluntarily answered all the questions asked in the form of ‘free flowing text’ as requested by the Inquiry itself.
“The final submission includes a statement of truth in common with all witness statements. The legal exchanges, which have been extensively referred to by the Inquiry’s solicitors, were necessary to ensure clarity regarding both the structure, relevance and content of the statement.
“Once resolved, the Inquiry raised no objection to the format of the prince’s submission.”
Elizabeth Butler Sloss, 1st IICSA chair, member of the establishment protected Bishop Peter Ball
Establishment ‘rallied to help ex-bishop later jailed for abuse’
Prince Charles and Lord Carey among powerful backers of Peter Ball, abuse inquiry told
23 July 2018
Members of the establishment, including the heir to the throne, the then archbishop of Canterbury and a senior member of the judiciary, rallied to the support of Peter Ball, a Church of England bishop accused of sexual abuse, an independent inquiry has heard.
“The story of Peter Ball is the story of the establishment at work in modern times,” said William Chapman, representing survivors. “It is the story of how the establishment minimised the nature of Peter Ball’s misdeeds … and silenced and harassed those who tried to complain.”
One survivor told the inquiry the C of E’s response to his disclosure of abuse amounted to “enduringly cruel and sadistic treatment”.
The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse is examining how the church handled allegations. A five-day hearing this week is scrutinising the church’s response to claims of sexual abuse against Ball, a former bishop of Lewes and then Gloucester, who was jailed in 2015.
Ball was able to call upon the “willing assistance of members of the establishment”, said Chapman. “It included the heir to the throne, the archbishop and a senior member of the judiciary, to name only the most prominent.”
Between them, they provided Ball with money and accommodation, legal advice, a private detective, references and approaches to the police and the prosecuting authorities.
“The alacrity and the extent of the response by Peter Ball’s friends to one of their own in trouble was impressive. It makes a horrible contrast to the way Peter Ball’s victims were treated,” Chapman said.
He told the inquiry: “These establishment helpers claim they were duped by Peter Ball … But you will have to consider if it is credible, given what they must have known or could easily have found out about Peter Ball, whether they were really as ignorant as they claimed they were about the nature of Peter Ball’s activities.
“Some claimed they did not know what a caution meant. Well, Prince Charles has many advisers; he only had to ask. So does the archbishop of Canterbury.”
Ball’s friends were willing to “add their weight” against the due criminal process. “They went far beyond the normal obligations of friendship.”
Allegations were first made against Ball in 1992, but he accepted a police caution and resigned his position as bishop. An independent review of the case commissioned by the C of E and published last year found evidence of collusion and a cover-up at the highest levels.
Richard Scorer, also representing survivors, said that Ball found in his fellow bishops the “perfect accomplices, prepared to turn a blind eye to his abuse over many decades”.
None bore greater responsibility than Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, Scorer said. “We fear that when we hear from him this week, the usual litany of excuses will be trotted out,” he said, adding that Carey must give a “transparent account of his actions”.
Prince Charles’s assertion that he did not understand the significance of a caution was “frankly astonishing”, he said. The prince has access to “the best legal advice that money can buy,” Scorer added.
The prince chose not to clarify the legal position. “To my clients, this extraordinary lack of curiosity looks like wilful blindness,” he said.
In her opening statement, Fiona Scolding, senior counsel to the inquiry, said that Ball’s “fall from grace was a huge shock to the church”.
She added: “He was a very senior clergyman with enormous spiritual authority. He also had power and charm.”
People inside and outside the church had attested to Ball’s charisma and oratorical brilliance. She said that power had been “further enhanced by his cultivation of influential friends both within and outside the church”.
As an example, Ball had told people after his arrest that four cabinet ministers had offered him a “bolthole from the press”.
“He did not stint from mentioning those friends in prominent places when he thought it would assist his cause,” Scolding added.
She told the hearing of a scheme set up by Ball for young men interested in religious life that gave him the opportunity to groom them for sexual abuse and exploitation. The men were encouraged to pray naked, and engage in massage and spanking. One, Neil Todd, who first made allegations against Ball, killed himself in 2012.
Scolding said that Ball, now 86, was too unwell to give evidence either at the inquiry or by video link. But in one of two statements he had submitted he made an apology and said he had “neither been open nor shown penitence in the past”.
The hearing heard from three survivors who described their abuse by Ball. One, the Rev Graham Sawyer, who has waived his right to anonymity, said: “The sexual abuse that was perpetrated on me by bishop Peter Ball pales into insignificance when compared to the enduringly cruel and sadistic treatment that has been meted out to me by officials, both lay and ordained, in the Church of England.”
He described the culture within Anglicanism as an “ecclesiastic protection racket – and anyone who seeks in any way to threaten the reputation of the church and institution has to be destroyed”.
Safeguarding should be taken out of the church’s hands he said, as “it cannot police itself with any credibility”.
At the start of proceedings, Alexis Jay, the chair of the inquiry, said she had ordered an investigation into the leaking to the media of the Prince of Wales’s letter.
She said the leak was a “very serious breach of confidence by someone with direct access to information in this investigation” and promised “firm action” should the source be uncovered.
Scolding said a suggestion reported by the Times that the timing of the statement, to be read on the final day of this week’s hearings, was to prevent the prince being called for cross-examination “could not be further from the truth”.
She said: “There is no requirement for him to attend in person as his evidence, whilst important, is not of central relevance to many of the issues raised by this case study.”
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey admits ‘fobbing off’ sex abuse victims
July 24 2018
A former Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted “fobbing off” victims of sex abuse who complained about a paedophile bishop.
Lord Carey of Clifton said Lambeth Palace failed to deal properly with letters sent by victims and their families after the arrest of Peter Ball in December 1992.
Ball, then the bishop of Gloucester, was arrested following disclosures by Neil Todd, who had been a pupil on his scheme for young men considering a monastic life, that Ball had sexually abused him.
Lord Carey also admitted that the church had “mishandled” the case, after the inquiry heard evidence that many of the letters had received holding responses and victims had been forced to follow up to gain a proper reply.
“We have been fobbing people off. They should have had direct replies. We should have carried on our enquiries and dealt with it in a much more serious and adult manner than we did,” he admitted.
The inquiry also heard that a “personal message” from the former Archbishop had been sent to the diocese of Gloucester in January 1993, several weeks after the allegations had been received, expressing a hope that the ongoing police enquiry would “clear his [Ball’s] name”.
He also wrote to the chief constable of Gloucestershire and the director of public prosecutions in 1993 on Ball’s behalf after the bishop’s psychiatrist told him that he was suicidal, and wrote to Ball himself telling him “you are in my prayers”.
Lord Carey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1991 and 2002, oversaw Ball’s return to ministry and the payment of thousands of pounds to the bishop, including money for holidays, which came from his own discretionary funds, used to support church leaders in need.
The inquiry also heard that Ball was given the role as Bishop of Gloucester in 1992 after then-appointments secretary to the Prime Minister Sir Robin Catford wrote a glowing letter recommending him, including mentioning that he was a “squash blue” at Cambridge and that he had a “quite extraordinary sparkling personality” and was “loved and revered by everyone who crossed his path”.
Powerful evidence by Rev Graham Sawyer, victim of Peter Ball : “ It is an ecclesiastical protection racket… anyone who threatens the reputation of the Church has to be destroyed. That is the culture within Anglicanism.”
Ball was able to call upon the “willing assistance of members of the establishment”… it included Prince Charles, the archbishop and a senior member of the judiciary…they provided Ball with money and accommodation, legal advice, a private detective, references and approaches to the police and the prosecuting authorities.
Peter Ball (right) and his twin brother Michael Ball, pictured in 1989
Bishops were ‘perfect accomplices’ for ‘nauseating’ Peter Ball, IICSA hears
23 July 2018
PETER BALL found the “perfect cover” for his sex-offending in the Church of England, and the “perfect accomplices” in fellow bishops who turned a blind eye to his actions, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) has heard.
The details of the abuse carried out against vulnerable adults by Mr Ball, the disgraced former Bishop of Gloucester, during his ministry were heard on Monday at the start of a week-long hearing being conducted by IICSA, as part of its investigation into the extent to which the Anglican Church failed to protect children from child sex abuse.
The first hearing, in March, used the diocese of Chichester as a case study (News, 9 March). This week is to focus on the repeated failures of the police, Crown Prosecution Service, and the Church to identify, prevent, and prosecute abuse carried out by Ball over several decades, the lead counsel to the Anglican investigation, Fiona Scolding QC explained.
Ball received a three-year sentence in 2015, having admitted to a series of indecent assaults and the abuse of 18 young men aged 17-25 (News, 7 October 2015).
The offences included praying naked with vulnerable young people who had joined the monastic-community scheme Give a Year to God, which Ball had founded and run in Littlington, East Sussex, in the 1980s, when he was Bishop of Lewes.
Summarising the evidence received by the Inquiry, which included more than 100,000 documents, Ms Scolding said that Ball had admitted to being naked with, caressing, anointing, and physically assaulting young men, who would sleep in his house, sometimes in his bed, and with whom he would prayer naked, embrace, and masturbate. The victims were told that these practices were an expression of humiliation, penitence, and devotion to Christ.
One of his victims was the late Neil Todd, who was repeatedly abused during the 1980s and ’90s, and who later took his own life. His allegations brought about the police investigation in 1993, which resulted in Ball accepting a police caution, thereby admitting his guilt.
Ms Scolding also quoted several senior clerics who had held Ball in high esteem, most of whom had “flooded to defend him” after the police investigation and, latterly, his conviction. It had become clear in the Chichester hearing that abusers were required to “manipulate and charm” everyone around them, not just their victims, she said.
Among his defenders was Michael Ball, his twin brother and a former Bishop of Truro, who repeatedly urged Lambeth Palace to restore Peter Ball to ministry during the 2000s in what has been described in evidence as “manipulative” campaign which drew on connections with senior figures, including the Prince of Wales.
A lawyer representing six survivors of Ball, Richard Scorer QC, said that in the Church Ball had found the “perfect cover” for his offending.
“If a charlatan with an insatiable appetite for abuse wanted to secure a continuous supply of vulnerable young victims, there was no better way of achieving this than by founding a religious order not subject to any external supervision, and by making his victims participation in the abuse a religious duty obligated by their oath of absolute obedience.
“Not for the first time, theology and religious ritual provided the ideal mask for abuse, with the evil of what Peter Ball did being compounded by his nauseating claim that the abuse was spiritually uplifting.
“Most of all, however, Peter Ball found in his fellow bishops in the Church of England the perfect accomplices, prepared to turn a blind eye to his abuse over many decades, to collude in the lie that the abuse of Neil Todd was an uncharacteristic aberration, to cast doubt on his guilt, to smear his victims, and to rehabilitate him.”
Mr Scorer also criticised Prince Charles for not making efforts to check the position of Ball in 1993, after the bishop accepted a caution. “This extraordinary lack of curiosity looks like wilful blindness. . . He failed in that responsibility and therefore failed the victims.”
At the start of the hearing, the chair of the Inquiry, Professor Alexis Jay, expressed her disappointment at the “serious breach of confidence” after the content of a draft witness statement of Prince Charles was leaked to the press last week (News, 13 July).
The statement from Prince Charles had been disclosed to core participants on 9 July, Professor Jay said. “The panel is disappointed by the leaking of the draft statement. Deliberate leaking of information to the media before evidence is made public by the Inquiry not only undermines the ability of the Inquiry to get to the truth, but can also erode confidence in the Inquiry at all levels.”
Sussex police documents, released under an Freedom of Information (FOI) request, indicate Ball associated with other sex offenders in the clergy and that he was investigated in 2008 for being part of a suspected paedophile ring.
You would expect that anybody with nothing to hide would be completely open and have no fear. This behaviour gives the appearance of someone feeling the need to hide something. It actually draws attention to what that ‘something’ could possibly be. Extremely odd.
LazerLight@Lazer_Light23
So, Inquiry has no power to insist on statements from anyone?
According to evidence given to iiCSA today, Peter Ball would spend an hour each day praying in the nude… next to an open window. He also watched young clergy take cold showers each morning.
InquiryCSA@InquiryCSA
Rev’d Graham Sawyer: Let me make this clear – the sexual abuse that I suffered at the hands of Peter Ball, pales into insignificance when compared to the cruel/sadistic nature metered out to me
Esther Baker@Esther9982
I do wonder if the lawyers acting for the CP’s ought to challenge the lawyers running the @InquiryCSA on the basis that they are now accepting the accused (and their reps) words rather than truth seeking as their powers allow?
Recent examples of this would be a) allowing royalty to not give pertinent evidence because he’s royalty. B) inaccurately issuing a statement that I am under investigation for PCJ, and only removing it at the insistence of the police – because an ex-MP said it so it must be true
Peter Ball was a governor of both Lancing College but also the wider Woodard Group, which is a group of Anglican boarding schools
Peter Ball appointed to the Anglican Scouting Fellowship
In January 1996 Lord Carey agreed that Ball should be permitted to preach at a public school, provided that the school were made aware of possible hostile press interest. He further agreed in March that Ball could conduct confirmations and preach at two more schools. Ball was still the President of the Anglican Fellowship in Scouting and Guiding 17 and the Archbishop agreed that he could attend their Annual General Meeting and celebrate the Eucharist at their headquarters in Gilwell
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Peter Ball developed a scheme called “Give a year to God”. He set this up informally with the approval of Bishop Kemp.
The Anglican Fellowship in Scouting and Guiding was formed in 1983. It is not clear when Ball’s involvement with the Fellowship came to an end. The Scout Association has advised that Ball was also
appointed to a subcommittee of the Association’s Board in 1983.
Robert John Alston, (right) retired British diplomat. Alston was educated at Ardingly College and New College, Oxford. He is Chairman of Governors at Ardingly College (2005 – 2010). He served as British Ambassador to Oman between (1986–1990)
Paul Righton attended Ardingly College from 1940 to 1944
Righton’s Ardingly College obituary – with mention of Richard D Alston (G1953-63)
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
“Evil bishop drove me to suicide”- Telegraph article about Ball’s abuse was published 14 Mar 1993 in the Sunday Telegraph
If he didn’t know, he’s hardly fit to be King …
2006 Prince Charles and Camilla with evil Bishop Ball
Richard Scorer: My clients accept the Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) has many interactions with Church of England clergy. However our clients do not accept that he claims he was not aware that a caution means an acceptance of guilt.
Scorer claims senior leaders in the Church knew of Peter Ball’s offending but Lambeth Palace did not hand over letters to police:http://ow.ly/M5yK30l4wJe
Mr William Chapman: There’s a reluctance to trust the secular authorities to handle the matter and a willingness to forgive and reintegrate Peter Ball, no matter what he’d done
Elizabeth Hall, Nat Safeguarding Advisor, recommending a further review of Peter Ball information which should involve trying to find all files/documents
Both Michael Ball and brother Peter Ball were not shy about using the name of the Prince of Wales to seek to influence others. Bishop Michael Ball wrote to Lord Carey in Dec 1992 saying that his brother was receiving support from 2 Cabinet Ministers and Prince Charles Peter Ball often mention their friendship.
On 8 March 1993 Peter Ball received a caution for one count of gross indecency against Neil Todd. He resigned immediately. Peter Ball alleged to the Church of England shortly that he either did not wish to resign, and accepted a caution to avoid a trial.
“This Inquiry has been provided with details of allegations made by a total of 32 individuals. These all relate to an alleged abuse of power by Peter Ball for the purposes of his sexual gratification.”
The former Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball was convicted of two offences of indecent assault, and an offence of misconduct
Peter Ball admitted when pleading guilty that he received sexual gratification from the deliberate manipulation of vulnerable young men, that the contact was consistent with grooming and that he abused his position as a Bishop in the Church of England
In January 1996, Ball was permitted by Archbishop Carey to preach at a particular public school and, to conduct confirmations at other specific schools later on in that year
(1) Why he was permitted to return to ministry in this fashion? (2) Why did no-one think to carry out some kind of risk assessment? (3) Whether or not senior clergy simply thought that Peter Ball’s pleas of innocence should be believed?
“I really appreciate your sympathetic understanding in preventing a scandal with a trial which would have affected the Royal family and establishments in this crucial time of turmoil within the Church of England.” Bishop Kemp comments on a 1990s investigation into Peter Ball
2006 Peter Ball former Bishop of Lewes with his good friends Prince Charles and Camilla at a memorial for her father Bruce Shand
Paedophile Peter Ball remained a confidant of Prince Charles right up until 2012
Although it took him time to accept the facts, the Prince has now cut the cleric out of his life. It was a difficult decision because Ball had become a spiritual advisor to the Prince
A risk assessment carried out by the Church in 2009 identified that Peter Ball could be identified as a sexual predator given the length and scale of his offending
Both Michael + Peter Ball were not shy about using the name of the Prince of Wales to seek to influence others. Bishop Michael Ball wrote to Lord Carey in Dec 1992 saying that his brother was receiving support from 2 Cabinet Ministers + the PoW. PB often mention their friendship.
Cassandra Cogno@CassandraCogno
Will we be told the 2 cabinet ministers didn’t understand a caution as an admission of guilt too? Or will they never be mentioned again
Gilo@seaofcomplicity:
That tiny handful of letters (I believe there were 2000+) shows the extent to which the great and the good brought undue influence to bear. Why write such letters … unless intending to influence judicial proceedings? There cannot be any other reason.
And Carey quietly sat on 6 letters from parents and victims – letters which had they gone to police in mid 90’s would almost certainly have led to prosecution. This was a cover-up involving lambeth palace archbishops, bishops, and other assorted figures.
Gibb Report said Lord Carey “set the tone for the Church’s response to Ball’s crimes and gave the steer which allowed Ball’s assertions that he was innocent to gain credence”. But will IICSA find anything more than this? In 5 days and with so few witnesses.
During his time in Lewes, Ball got to know Savile well and he was the bishop’s principal entree into the Waleses’ household
Peter Ball was propelled into the royal circle by two people, I understand. One was prebendary Willie Booth, a former chaplain at Westminster School, who’d taken over from Caesar. The other was Jimmy Savile.
During his time in Lewes, Ball got to know Savile well and he was the bishop’s principal entree into the Waleses’ household. After his appointment to Gloucester was announced, Ball became a regular visitor to Highgrove and was held in such high regard that Charles attended his enthronement.
Charles, meanwhile, must surely have been advised to keep Ball at arm’s length — just as he had been advised to distance himself from Jimmy Savile.
‘The Prince did receive letters from the public complaining about Savile,’ says a senior aide. ‘But the writers were dismissed [by him] as jealous or mad.’
Prince Charles kept in touch with ex-bishop later jailed for abuse
Prince told inquiry he was deceived by Peter Ball, who called him a ‘loyal friend’
20 July 2018
Prince Charles maintained contact with a former bishop who was later jailed for abusing young men and occasionally gave him money because he was deceived over the man’s crimes, he has told the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
In a written submission to be read at the inquiry next week, the Prince of Wales has said he did not understand that Peter Ball’s caution for gross indecency in 1993 involved an admission of guilt, according to a report in the Times.
In the statement, described as a draft, Charles said he had “decades of correspondence” with Ball and occasionally sent him “small gifts of money, as I do for many people in need”.
The former bishop has described the prince as a “loyal friend”.
Ball was invited to give Communion at Highgrove, the prince’s home, preached at the funeral of Bruce Shand, the Duchess of Cornwall’s father, in 2006 and lived in a Duchy of Cornwall property from 1997 to 2011.
Charles said the bishop told him he had been involved in an “indiscretion” and that an individual with a grudge had been persecuting him.
The prince added: “I was certainly not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution … Whilst I note that Peter Ball mentioned the word in a letter to me in October 2009, I was not aware until recently that a caution in fact carries an acceptance of guilt.”
He expressed “deep personal regret” that he had been deceived by Ball.
Next week’s hearings at the inquiry are to investigate “whether there were inappropriate attempts by people of prominence to interfere in the criminal justice process after [Ball] was first accused of child sexual offences”.
Ball, 86, the former bishop of Gloucester, was sentenced to 32 months for charges relating to 18 teenagers and young men between the 1970s and 1990s when he was bishop of Lewes. He admitted one count of misconduct in public office and two counts of indecent assault relating to two young men.
Ball was first accused in 1993 by Neil Todd, who tried to kill himself three times as a result of his abuse, and went on to do so in 2012.
Sussex police investigated Todd’s claims, 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 by Carey to continue officiating at church services.
Last year, an independent review of the C of E’s handling of the Ball case, conducted by Dame Moira Gibb, found senior church figures colluded with the accused bishop over a 20-year period. The report said: “The church appears to have been most interested in protecting itself.”
George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, will also give evidence to the inquiry, in person and including cross-examination. He resigned his position as an honorary assistant bishop after being criticised in the Gibb report. His “permission to officiate” was reinstated earlier this year.
A Clarence House spokesperson said on Thursday: “IICSA has asked the Prince of Wales if he could help the part of their inquiry that deals with Mr Peter Ball. Whilst the prince made it clear that he was unaware of Mr Ball’s behaviour, he indicated that he was happy to volunteer context on his contact with Mr Ball if that would help.”
The spokesperson also referred to findings in the Gibb report, which said it had found no evidence “that the Prince of Wales or any other member of the royal family sought to intervene at any point in order to protect or promote Ball”.
The Rev Barry Kinsman or ‘Mr. Padstow’ as he was known locally was found dead in the sea off Padstow. Now why would a man of the cloth be worried about the coverage given to the Savile inquiry and of it spreading to Cornwall?
Barry Kinsmen may have known Jimmy Savile through the Ball brothers.
Kinsmen (Truro Diocesan Adviser in Religious Education (1979-95) would have known Bishop Michael Ball as Truro Bishop (and Peter Ball who was friends with Jimmy Savile) Peter Ball resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993 after he received a police caution for gross indecency.
It has now emerged he replaced his identical twin Michael, then Bishop of Truro, at services and official duties on an unknown number occasions in the 1990s.
The Diocese of Truro has appealed for information from churchgoers to investigate what happened when the two men were together in Cornwall between 1993 and 1997.
Of course, affordable housing is always an important issue, but what did Kinsman know about abuse in Cornwall, after all he was a leading light at the Padstow Echo and a former head teacher.
Let’s stay in Padstow for a while because it’s such a nice place and home to eccentrics such as Ed Prynn and his ladyfriend Glynis, whose spiritual mentors were Billy Graham (friend of croaker Cliff Richard) and Jimmy Savile:
On March 5th, 1993, the paedophile Bishop Ball was notified by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that despite “sufficient admissible, substantial and reliable evidence”, it was prepared to deal with the matter out of court.
In October 1985 Daniel Bryant was pictured in the North Devon Journal receiving the British Empire Medal for services to youth from the Lord Lieutenant of Devon, the Earl of Morley, at a ceremony in Exeter.
Paedophile police officer Daniel Bryant brought to book FORTY years after abusing boys
He now faces jail after admitting abusing a string of boys in the 1960s, 70s and 80s
6 OCT 2013
Daniel Bryant served as a constable over three decades and was honoured for his youth work – but led a secret double life as a predatory pervert.
Russel first reported Bryant in 1987 but was told the allegations were uncorroborated, even though a second lad had also alleged abuse.
Bryant continued as a PC in Devon and Cornwall Police’s juvenile bureau for another five years until he was suspended when a third victim came forward in 1993.
Just a year later, aged 44, he retired on a medical pension on the grounds of ill health. He avoided prosecution until this year when he was finally charged.
Police surf club coach Danny Bryant took advantage of weekends away to commit abuse
On leaving the force Bryant became a leading figure in a club for the competitive sport of surf lifesaving, where he worked with many more children.
Bryant admitted ten indecent assaults, against five boys between 1969 and 1985, at Taunton Crown Court in August.
Russel was preyed on by Bryant after joining a police lifesaving club run by the pervert. Following one vile assault he quit the club but was tormented by flashbacks.
Gallingly, the following year Bryant was awarded the British Empire Medal for his youth work.
His family took out a private prosecution but police refused to reinvestigate until eventually a probe was launched in February. Bryant pleaded guilty.
Bryant helped run a Surf Life Saving GB club affiliated at Saunton Sands in the 1980s when Russel Dawson said he was abused a number of times.
Esther Pearson, chief executive of Surf Life Saving GB (SLSGB), said the organisation had been unaware of the allegations until it received a letter from Mr Dawson on 19 October last year.
A police officer continued to work with children at a force lifesaving club following accusations of child abuse, a BBC investigation has found.
Danny Bryant was jailed last November for abusing boys between 1974 and 1985, including at Devon and Cornwall Police Surf Life Saving Club.
Derek Fisher, the former police boss of Bryant and the then secretary of the Devon and Cornwall Police Surf Life Saving Club, told BBC Inside Out South West that he took action to remove Bryant immediately from the club in 1988 after an accusation was brought to his attention.
He said Bryant “took no further part in that club from that time on”.
However, BBC Inside Out has found evidence that Bryant was part of the club until 1993:
Devon and Cornwall Police correspondence in October 1989 showed Mr Fisher inviting Bryant to an award ceremony at the club
Further correspondence shows Bryant retained an organisational role in 1991
Minutes from 1992 show Bryant was listed as club captain
In the same year when Diana Princess of Wales opened the clubhouse, Bryant was part of the reception committee
In 1993, Bryant became the new chairman of Saunton Sands Surf Lifesaving Club after the original club was disbanded
Bryant also held a senior role with Surf Lifesaving GB until 2012 and in the previous year was awarded one of the sport’s highest accolades: Knight in the Order of Lifesaving.
Surf Lifesaving GB was aware of an accusation of assault in 1993, but said it was only told of another case in October 2012.
The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Nxivm: Nigel Havers’ step-daughter arrested over claims she funded secret ‘sex cult’ that branded women with symbol
Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman has been arrested on charges of racketeering conspiracy after allegedly using her fortune to help finance the group
25 July 2018
The step-daughter of actor Nigel Havers has been arrested over claims she funded a suspected US sex cult.
Investigators in America allege Seagram liquor heiress Clare Bronfman used her fortune to help finance the operations of Nxivm.
The 39-year-old is the daughter of Georgiana Bronfman, who is the Chariots of Fire star’s third wife.
Bronfman was arrested on Tuesday along with three others on charges of racketeering conspiracy.
She later appeared in a Brooklyn federal courtroom pleading not guilty to charges of running a criminal enterprise.
A judge ordered she be held under house arrest as the judge considered the prosecutor’s request for a $100 million bond.
Bronfman’s lawyer said her client “did nothing wrong”.
Her attorney, Susan Necheles, said in a statement that Nxivm was “not a criminal enterprise” but “an organisation that helped thousands of people”.
“The charges against Clare are the result of government overreaching and charging an individual with crimes just because the government disagrees with some beliefs taught by Nxivm and held by Clare,” Necheles said.
Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman, 64, her daughter, Lauren Salzman, 42, and the group’s 60-year-old bookkeeper, Kathy Russell, were also charged with racketeering conspiracy.
Six people have now been charged in the Nxivm inquiry, including 35-year-old actress Allison Mack, who starred in the TV show Smallville.
The US Department of Justice says all six committed “an array of crimes, including identity theft, extortion, forced labour, sex trafficking money laundering, wire fraud and obstruction of justice”.
They included Nicki Clyne, an actress who appeared on Battlestar Galactica, Bronfman’s sister Sara, a son of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and India Oxenberg, a daughter of Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg.
In an indictment, prosecutors said Mack, who played a teenage friend of Superman in the CW network’s Smallville, helped Raniere recruit women to a secret sub-society within NXIVM whose members were branded with a surgical tool with a symbol that resembled his initials.
Women were expected to be subservient to “masters”, prosecutors said, including giving in to demands for sex.
In February, Havers credited his wife for saving him from grief following the death of his second wife, Polly Williams.
The actor was happily married to Polly Williams for many years before her death from ovarian cancer in 2004 at the age of 54.
Despite criticism for years by ex-followers who called NXIVM a cult and a pyramid scheme, the organisation’s intense self-improvement classes had, at one point, earned it thousands of adherents, including some with Hollywood ties.
They included Nicki Clyne, an actress who appeared on Battlestar Galactica, Bronfman’s sister Sara, a son of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and India Oxenberg, a daughter of Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg.
In an indictment, prosecutors said Mack, who played a teenage friend of Superman in the CW network’s Smallville, helped Raniere recruit women to a secret sub-society within NXIVM whose members were branded with a surgical tool with a symbol that resembled his initials.
Women were expected to be subservient to “masters”, prosecutors said, including giving in to demands for sex.
In February, Havers credited his wife for saving him from grief following the death of his second wife, Polly Williams.
The actor was happily married to Polly Williams for many years before her death from ovarian cancer in 2004 at the age of 54.
The Bronfman family has very close ties to the Rothschild banking dynasty, with members of both families belonging to many of the same companies, including their joint financial firm, Bronfman & Rothschild.
At Bronfman & Rothschild, Donald Trump’s, the Clinton’s and Jeffrey Epstein’s friend, “Lady” Lynn Forester de Rothschild, is on the Board of Directors:
Edgar Bronfman Jr. is also in the “little black book” of paedo billionaire Jeffrey Epstein
Nigel Havers’ step-daughter, Clare Bronfman – her brother Edgar Bronfman Jr is in convicted billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s black book
The Havers family has a long history with paedophiles:
Nigel Havers’ father Lord Michael Havers tried to stop Geoffrey Dickens from naming Sir Peter Hayman
Brother of child abuse inquiry judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was accused of ‘cover up’
Late brother of Baroness Butler-Sloss, judge formerly in charge of Westminster child abuse inquiry, was attorney general who refused to prosecute paedophile spy Peter Hayman
Sir Michael Havers, the late brother of Baroness Butler-Sloss, was accused of a “white-wash” after he backed a decision not to prosecute Sir Peter Hayman.
Baroness Butler-Sloss, a former president of the Family Division of the High Court who led the inquest into the death of Princess Diana, has been appointed by Theresa May to lead an independent inquiry into allegations that child sex abuse was covered up by state bodies, the church, political parties and the BBC. The Home Office said she had “impeccable credentials”.
Elizabeth Butler Sloss covered up for Bishop Peter Ball
Elizabeth Butler Sloss, 1st IICSA chair, member of the establishment protected Bishop Peter Ball
Establishment ‘rallied to help ex-bishop later jailed for abuse’
Prince Charles and Lord Carey among powerful backers of Peter Ball, abuse inquiry told
23 July 2018
Members of the establishment, including the heir to the throne, the then archbishop of Canterbury and a senior member of the judiciary, rallied to the support of Peter Ball, a Church of England bishop accused of sexual abuse, an independent inquiry has heard.
“The story of Peter Ball is the story of the establishment at work in modern times,” said William Chapman, representing survivors. “It is the story of how the establishment minimised the nature of Peter Ball’s misdeeds … and silenced and harassed those who tried to complain.”
One survivor told the inquiry the C of E’s response to his disclosure of abuse amounted to “enduringly cruel and sadistic treatment”.
The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse is examining how the church handled allegations. A five-day hearing this week is scrutinising the church’s response to claims of sexual abuse against Ball, a former bishop of Lewes and then Gloucester, who was jailed in 2015.
Ball was able to call upon the “willing assistance of members of the establishment”, said Chapman. “It included the heir to the throne, the archbishop and a senior member of the judiciary, to name only the most prominent.”
Between them, they provided Ball with money and accommodation, legal advice, a private detective, references and approaches to the police and the prosecuting authorities.
“The alacrity and the extent of the response by Peter Ball’s friends to one of their own in trouble was impressive. It makes a horrible contrast to the way Peter Ball’s victims were treated,” Chapman said.
He told the inquiry: “These establishment helpers claim they were duped by Peter Ball … But you will have to consider if it is credible, given what they must have known or could easily have found out about Peter Ball, whether they were really as ignorant as they claimed they were about the nature of Peter Ball’s activities.
“Some claimed they did not know what a caution meant. Well, Prince Charles has many advisers; he only had to ask. So does the archbishop of Canterbury.”
Ball’s friends were willing to “add their weight” against the due criminal process. “They went far beyond the normal obligations of friendship.”
Allegations were first made against Ball in 1992, but he accepted a police caution and resigned his position as bishop. An independent review of the case commissioned by the C of E and published last year found evidence of collusion and a cover-up at the highest levels.
Richard Scorer, also representing survivors, said that Ball found in his fellow bishops the “perfect accomplices, prepared to turn a blind eye to his abuse over many decades”.
None bore greater responsibility than Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, Scorer said. “We fear that when we hear from him this week, the usual litany of excuses will be trotted out,” he said, adding that Carey must give a “transparent account of his actions”.
Prince Charles’s assertion that he did not understand the significance of a caution was “frankly astonishing”, he said. The prince has access to “the best legal advice that money can buy,” Scorer added.
The prince chose not to clarify the legal position. “To my clients, this extraordinary lack of curiosity looks like wilful blindness,” he said.
In her opening statement, Fiona Scolding, senior counsel to the inquiry, said that Ball’s “fall from grace was a huge shock to the church”.
She added: “He was a very senior clergyman with enormous spiritual authority. He also had power and charm.”
People inside and outside the church had attested to Ball’s charisma and oratorical brilliance. She said that power had been “further enhanced by his cultivation of influential friends both within and outside the church”.
As an example, Ball had told people after his arrest that four cabinet ministers had offered him a “bolthole from the press”.
“He did not stint from mentioning those friends in prominent places when he thought it would assist his cause,” Scolding added.
She told the hearing of a scheme set up by Ball for young men interested in religious life that gave him the opportunity to groom them for sexual abuse and exploitation. The men were encouraged to pray naked, and engage in massage and spanking. One, Neil Todd, who first made allegations against Ball, killed himself in 2012.
Scolding said that Ball, now 86, was too unwell to give evidence either at the inquiry or by video link. But in one of two statements he had submitted he made an apology and said he had “neither been open nor shown penitence in the past”.
The hearing heard from three survivors who described their abuse by Ball. One, the Rev Graham Sawyer, who has waived his right to anonymity, said: “The sexual abuse that was perpetrated on me by bishop Peter Ball pales into insignificance when compared to the enduringly cruel and sadistic treatment that has been meted out to me by officials, both lay and ordained, in the Church of England.”
He described the culture within Anglicanism as an “ecclesiastic protection racket – and anyone who seeks in any way to threaten the reputation of the church and institution has to be destroyed”.
Safeguarding should be taken out of the church’s hands he said, as “it cannot police itself with any credibility”.
At the start of proceedings, Alexis Jay, the chair of the inquiry, said she had ordered an investigation into the leaking to the media of the Prince of Wales’s letter.
She said the leak was a “very serious breach of confidence by someone with direct access to information in this investigation” and promised “firm action” should the source be uncovered.
Scolding said a suggestion reported by the Times that the timing of the statement, to be read on the final day of this week’s hearings, was to prevent the prince being called for cross-examination “could not be further from the truth”.
She said: “There is no requirement for him to attend in person as his evidence, whilst important, is not of central relevance to many of the issues raised by this case study.”
“within the records of the 1992 investigation…there are both oblique and direct references noting that Prince Charles or the royal family were interested inthe matter…there was also internal correspondence
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
If he didn’t know, he’s hardly fit to be King …
Richard Scorer: My clients accept the PoW has many interactions with Church of England clergy. However our clients do not accept that he claims he was not aware that a caution means an acceptance of guilt.
Scorer claims senior leaders in the Church knew of Peter Ball’s offending but Lambeth Palace did not hand over letters to police:http://ow.ly/M5yK30l4wJe
Mr William Chapman: There’s a reluctance to trust the secular authorities to handle the matter and a willingness to forgive and reintegrate Peter Ball, no matter what he’d done
Elizabeth Hall, Nat Safeguarding Advisor, recommending a further review of Peter Ball information which should involve trying to find all files/documents
Both Michael Ball and brother Peter Ball were not shy about using the name of the Prince of Wales to seek to influence others. Bishop Michael Ball wrote to Lord Carey in Dec 1992 saying that his brother was receiving support from 2 Cabinet Ministers and Prince Charles Peter Ball often mention their friendship.
On 8 March 1993 Peter Ball received a caution for one count of gross indecency against Neil Todd. He resigned immediately. Peter Ball alleged to the Church of England shortly that he either did not wish to resign, and accepted a caution to avoid a trial.
“This Inquiry has been provided with details of allegations made by a total of 32 individuals. These all relate to an alleged abuse of power by Peter Ball for the purposes of his sexual gratification.”
The former Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball was convicted of two offences of indecent assault, and an offence of misconduct
Peter Ball admitted when pleading guilty that he received sexual gratification from the deliberate manipulation of vulnerable young men, that the contact was consistent with grooming and that he abused his position as a Bishop in the Church of England
In January 1996, Ball was permitted by Archbishop Carey to preach at a particular public school and, to conduct confirmations at other specific schools later on in that year
(1) Why he was permitted to return to ministry in this fashion? (2) Why did no-one think to carry out some kind of risk assessment? (3) Whether or not senior clergy simply thought that Peter Ball’s pleas of innocence should be believed?
“I really appreciate your sympathetic understanding in preventing a scandal with a trial which would have affected the Royal family and establishments in this crucial time of turmoil within the Church of England.” Bishop Kemp comments on a 1990s investigation into Peter Ball
A risk assessment carried out by the Church in 2009 identified that Peter Ball could be identified as a sexual predator given the length and scale of his offending
Prince Charles gives evidence to inquiry into Peter Ball
The Prince of Wales says he was aware that Peter Ball, who lived in Aller, near Langport, had been given a police caution, but claims he did not realise it amounted to an admission of guilt.
Details of Prince Charles’s relationship with Ball will be revealed at an inquiry into the case on Friday.
The next in line to the throne had “decades of correspondence” with Ball and occasionally sent him “small gifts of money”, according to the draft copy of his statement to the inquiry, The Times has reported.
The statement will add that Ball confided in him in 2009 that he had been involved in an “indiscretion” years previously, which he blamed on a person with a grudge.
Peter Ball abuse inquiry requests statement from Prince Charles
Wed 06 Jun 2018
By Press Association
The Prince of Wales has been asked to give a witness statement to a public inquiry about a paedophile bishop who was jailed after abusing young men.
Peter Ball was sentenced to 32 months in 2015 for a string of offences between the 1970s and 1990s, and the handling of allegations against him is now being examined by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
At a hearing on Wednesday, counsel to the inquiry Fiona Scolding QC said that statements had been requested from the prince and his principal private secretary.
According to a transcript posted on the inquiry website, she said: “We have also requested a witness statement from both His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and his principal private secretary.
“The Prince’s solicitors have indicated their client’s willingness to assist us and have raised a number of important issues for us to consider.
“This has led to lengthy and complex discussions and we are currently considering the latest points they have raised. We hope to be able to provide an update to core participants on this in the next couple of weeks.”
Charles had exchanged a series of letters with Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, whose diocese covers Highgrove, the prince’s country home.
A spokesman for the prince told the Daily Mail last year that the correspondence contained nothing of relevance to the clergyman’s offending.
Lawyer Richard Scorer from Slater and Gordon, who is representing complainants at the IICSA, said: “It is imperative that the inquiry leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to establish how Peter Ball was able to evade justice for two decades.
“If this means calling Prince Charles and other prominent establishment figures as witnesses then the inquiry should do so without fear or favour.”
George Bell was ‘fond’ of paeodophile bishop Peter Ball and sponsored him for ordination, an inquiry has heard.
As former bishop of Chichester, Bell is considered one of Anglicanism’s heroes. However, it emerged in 2015 the Church of England paid £16,800 to the woman, known as Carol, in a legal settlement after she accused Bell of sexually abusing her as a child.
Now it can be revealed Peter Ball, who was jailed for a string of sex offences against teenagers and young men in 2015, was close friends with Bell.
Bishop Ball sentenced to 32 months in prison but served only 16 months.
Ball was initially rejected in his attempt to become a priest in 1951 but Bell wrote to the selection panel in support of Ball’s application.
When Ball applied for ordination a second time it was Bell who sponsored him through the process.
In his witness statement to an inquiry investigating child sex abuse within the Church of England, Ball denied that Bell had ‘overruled’ the selection board allowing him to be ordained.
However he said that after his ordination Bell would visit his parish to take services, adding he was ‘aware that he was “fond” of me’.
In response to a question about Bell’s involvement in his ordination, Ball told the inquiry: ‘It is not right therefore to say that Bishop Bell “overruled” the selection board in order for me to be ordained.
Courtesy of Jimmy JamesBishop George Bell is an iconic figure for the Church of England and was bishop of Chichester from 1929 to 1958.
‘Although Bishop Bell had indicated in 1951 in a letter to the first Selection Board who did not recommend me for ministry that he would be “prepared to accept me for ordination” even though the Selection Board had not recommend me for training at that time, that is not how matters proceeded.’
He went on: ‘After theological college, it was Bishop Bell ultimately who did sponsored [sic] me for ordination, but with the approval of the Selection Board. Bishop Bell then placed me in the parish of Rottingdean where I undertook my first curacy.
‘He would visit my curacy on occasion to carry out confirmations and to take services.
‘We had a good working relationship; I was aware that he was “fond” of me. He was someone who I looked up to when I was a young curate starting out in the Church.’
Bell, who died in 1958, was revered by Anglicans before the abuse allegations against him emerged. However a report earlier this year heavily criticised the Church’s handling of the accusations and found it ‘rushed to judgement’ and failed to give proper consideration to Bell’s rights.
But the archbishop of Canterbury refused to back down and said a ‘significant cloud is left over his name’.
Ball went on to become bishop of Lewes in the diocese of Chichester and then bishop of Gloucester. He was accused of gross indecency against a 16-year-old in 1992 but escaped with a police caution after he received backing from a member of the Royal Family and a number of other establishment figures. He was told to step down from his role as a bishop. However he continued to minister in churches and schools until 2010 before he was eventually arrested.
At the age of 83 he was sentenced to 32 months for misconduct in public office and 15 months for indecent assaults in 2015. He was released after serving 16 months.
The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has been investigation how the diocese of Chichester handled allegations of child sexual abuse as a case study for the wider Church of England.
In his concluding remarks today solicitor David Greenwood said the CofE was more ‘malign’ than the Catholic Church in its response to abuse and accused it of ‘a conscious effort to treat survivors badly’.
The archbishop of Canterbury in his evidence said he had ‘learnt to be ashamed again of the Church’ and warned child sexual abuse would ‘destroy the Church’ if not addressed.
Ex-Archbishop ‘faces probe into Church sex abuse cover-up’: George Carey accused of ‘colluding’ with senior clergy to protect jailed bishop
05 Mar 2018
The former Archbishop of Canterbury could face a police probe over claims the Church covered up the activities of a sex abuse bishop, it was reported last night.
George Carey was last year accused in a report of ‘colluding’ with senior clergy to protect Bishop Peter Ball.
Ball, who groomed and abused 18 vulnerable men from 1977 and 1992, was allegedly not added to a list of questionable ministers in 1993 that enabled him to carry on working.
Bishop Peter Ball, who groomed and abused 18 vulnerable men from 1977 and 1992, was allegedly not added to a list of questionable ministers in 1993 that enabled him to carry on working
Even though the Metropolitan Police has not started a criminal investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is discussing whether to press charges against Lord Carey, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Prosecutors are said to be reading a 70-page report by Dame Moira Gibb, which was released last summer, in order to decide whether to prosecute.
A spokesman for Operation Hydrant – the investigation into historical allegations of child abuse – said: ‘The matters under consideration are complex, and advice is currently being sought from CPS to understand whether anything contained within the report suggests criminal offences have been committed.
‘This does not equate to a criminal investigation being underway.’ Solicitor David Greenwood, who has represented several of Ball’s victims, criticised the length of time prosecutors were taking.
He said: ‘What’s taking the CPS so long? It’s a 70-page report which was published nine months ago.’ Ball, a former suffragan bishop of Lewes, was let off with a caution for molesting a teenage novice monk in 1993. Although the Church knew of other allegations against him, it was not until 2015 that Ball was finally prosecuted and jailed.
He admitted abusing 18 teenagers and young men who had sought spiritual guidance from him between 1977 and 1992. Last summer the report into the scandal by Dame Moira, titled Abuse of Faith, described the Church’s handling of the scandal as ‘lamentable’.
It found Mr Carey ‘colluded’ with senior clergy to protect Ball. The independent inquiry into the scandal found that the Church of England knew of a string of allegations against Ball, then bishop of Gloucester, but failed to alert the police.
Justin Welby, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, urged his predecessor to step down from his role as an assistant bishop after the report covering his time as head of the Church of England.
Some of Ball’s victims called for a criminal investigation into senior clergy after the report found that the Church was ‘more interested in protecting itself’ than helping those he had abused, and that at least nine bishops knew allegations had been made against him.
In a Christmas letter last year, Lord Carey attacked his successor Mr Welby for commenting on his handling of allegations against Ball. The 82-year-old lashed out at the ‘unjust’ request for him to step down over his supposed failings 24 years ago.
The news comes as the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse prepares to begin today. The inquiry will spend three weeks analysing the actions of the Anglican Church, and is expected to hear from Mr Welby. A spokesman for the Church of England said it would always cooperate with police, but declined to comment.
A spokesman for the Carey family also declined to comment.
George Carey allowed church role despite part in abuse cover-up
Former archbishop of Canterbury was criticised in report into abuse by Peter Ball
13 July 2018
George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury who was heavily criticised in an independent report for his part in the cover-up of sexual abuse carried out by a bishop, has been allowed to resume an official role in the Church of England.
Lord Carey stepped down last year as an honorary assistant bishop at the unprecedented request of Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, after a damning report which found the church had colluded over the abuse.
But it emerged this week that Carey has been granted “permission to officiate” (PTO) by Steven Croft, the bishop of Oxford, allowing him to preach and preside at churches in the diocese. Croft is reportedly under police investigation for allegedly failing to respond properly to a separate report of clerical sexual abuse.
The decision to grant the PTO was made in February despite expectations of further revelations this month about Carey’s role in the case of Peter Ball, a former bishop of Gloucester, at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA).
The inquiry will spend a week scrutinising the C of E’s handling of the Ball case, starting on 23 July. Ball was jailed in 2015 for the grooming, sexual exploitation and abuse of 18 vulnerable young men between 1977 and 1992. Prince Charles has been asked to give a witness statement to the inquiry about his correspondence with Ball.
Carey, who was archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, resigned his honorary post after the publication of an independent report on the Ball case by Dame Moira Gibb.
She concluded that senior figures in the church had “colluded [with the abuser] rather than seeking to help those he had harmed”. She said: “The church appears to have been most interested in protecting itself.”
Carey had “set the tone for the church’s response to Ball’s crimes, and gave the steer which allowed Ball’s assertions that he was innocent to gain credence”, said Gibb.
The former archbishop responded to the report, saying it made “uncomfortable reading” and that he accepted its criticisms of him.
In February this year, Carey contacted the diocese of Oxford to request a PTO, which was granted by Croft. It followed letters from members of the congregation where Carey worships that requested he be allowed to resume ministry at their church.
A spokesperson for the diocese of Oxford said: “The granting of PTO enabled Lord Carey to preach and preside in the church where he worships, a church where his ministry is much valued. The granting of a PTO does not indicate a planned return to the role of assistant bishop.”
It is understood that Carey underwent fresh checks on his criminal record and C of E safeguarding training.
The church’s national safeguarding team was not consulted on whether the PTO should be granted.
A survivor of abuse by Ball said he was extremely concerned to learn that Carey had been granted a PTO. “It’s a real stab in the back for Ball survivors,” he said, adding that it would have been prudent to wait until further evidence had been heard by IICSA.
Croft is one of several senior church figures, including John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, who are reportedly being investigated by South Yorkshire police over alleged failures to act on disclosures of an alleged rape of a teenage boy by a clergyman in the 1980s. The force declined to confirm or deny an investigation was under way.
Matthew Ineson claims he was raped by the Rev Trevor Devamanikkam, and in 2012 and 2013 reported the crime to senior figures in the church, including Croft. He alleges they failed to follow proper procedures and did not advise him to tell police.
Devamanikkam was later charged with indecent assault and buggery without consent, but killed himself in 2017 before coming to trial.
A spokesperson for the diocese of Oxford said: “Written records and notes taken at the time give a different picture to the one Mr Ineson is presenting about how his case has been handled.”
An independent review had been commissioned by the C of E’s national safeguarding team, the spokesperson said.
Ineson told the Guardian: “Steven Croft may disagree about the wording of my disclosures, but nonetheless accepts I did tell him of my abuse. No word of apology has ever been forthcoming for what I have been put through.
“Given the circumstances it is incredible that Croft is still in a position to decide whether PTO should be given to George Carey or anybody else who has been so involved in the dreadful case of Peter Ball or any other safeguarding case.”
PTOs are mostly granted to retired priests who wish to continue their ministry by preaching, taking communion and providing holiday or sickness cover to serving clergy. PTOs are granted at the discretion of the local bishop.
And he didnt even consult the National Safeguarding Team.
NST deal with all high profile cases. @Steven_Croft didn’t even consult them. Another failure. Bishop under investigation for safeguarding failures gives PTO to a bishop under investigation for safeguarding failures etc
If anyone has doubts about @Steven_Croft poor safeguarding record, have a look at the independent Scie safeguarding audit on Sheffield diocese covering Crofts time-scary reading. Add to that my case & now he gives PTO back to Carey who had to resign cos of the Peter Ball cover up
Revd Canon John Rees with Archbishop Welby
Gilo @seaofcomplicity
This is just plain weird that Archbishop Welby’s provincial registrar kept such conflict-of-interest hidden. Not good. Whole structure needs reform if CofE legal officers can do this?
Legal advisor to the worldwide Anglican Consultative Council is Canon John Rees – chaplain to the Queen. His first curacy was in a parish in Yorkshire where he was trianied by parish priest Rev Trevor Devamanikkam – Ineson’s abuser. Small world!
Canon Rees said he was “deeply honoured” to become a Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II
England: Anglican legal advisor named Queen’s Chaplain
March 17, 2014
The legal adviser to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) and Provincial Registrar for the Archbishop of Canterbury has been appointed as a Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II.
Canon Rees is currently Registrar for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Diocesan Registrar for Oxford, Legal Adviser to the ACC (since 1995) and Senior Partner of Winckworth Sherwood – Vice-Chair of the Legal Advisory Commission of the C of E, an honorary Provincial Canon of Canterbury Cathedral.
His primary employer Winckworth Sherwood – described as a lawyer who, “specialises in ecclesiastical, educational and charity law and has a wealth of experience in advising on charity constitutions for national and international bodies; financial structures; disciplinary issues, subsidiary companies and asset management; press handling issues. As well as the full range of freehold and leasehold, registered and unregistered matters; and all types of ancillary issues e.g. rights of way; complicated redevelopment schemes, title investigations, contaminated land remediation issues, boundary disputes, unusual property matters such as dealing with consecrated land, burials and exhumation.”
Now the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is discussing with Scotland Yard detectives whether to pursue criminal charges against Lord Carey, the Telegraph understands.
The Metropolitan Police said it had not launched an official criminal investigation into Lord Carey. A spokesman for the Carey family declined to comment.
Sex abuse bishop Peter Ball and brother seek Catholic switch
06 December 2017
A former bishop jailed for sex offences and his twin brother have said they are looking to join the Catholic Church to “live and worship in anonymity”.
Peter Ball, who is now 85, was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 for offences against 18 teenagers and men.
The former Bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester carried out the abuse between the 1970s and 1990s.
Ball’s identical twin and former bishop Michael Ball said in an email events had “wearied and reduced us”.
In the email, mistakenly sent from Michael Ball to BBC South East’s Colin Campbell among others, the brothers said having been “battered by the Church” they would be looking to join the Roman Catholic Church.
They said they would like to “end our days in a church where we can live and worship in anonymity and without constant fear”.
The BBC contacted Michael Ball about the email and he said a move to the Catholic Church was “a possibility”.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton said in a statement: “We confirm that Peter Ball has been in contact with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton, in which diocese he now lives, expressing an interest in becoming a member of the Catholic Church.
“This matter is subject to discussions between Clifton Diocese and the statutory authorities, who are the lead with regards to Peter Ball’s risk management in the community.”
Dame Moira said he had received seven letters from families and individuals following the arrest and cautioning of Ball in 1992 for gross indecency – when he stood down as Bishop of Gloucester – but failed to pass six of them to the police.
Lord Carey had also failed to put Ball on the the “Lambeth List” which names clergymen whose suitability for ministry had been questioned.
Dame Moira also heard Bishop Michael Ball allowed his brother to attend functions in his place, even after his resignation, and on one occasion Peter Ball had introduced himself as his brother.
In 1994 Michael Ball campaigned to Lord Carey to return his brother to the ministry, with one bishop calling the brothers’ activities “manipulative”, Dame Moira reported .
Between 1995 and 1997, with Lord Carey’s backing. Peter Ball returned to church ministry, eventually undertaking duties such as confirmations.
After a series of investigations Balls’ ministry ceased in 2011, Dame Moira reported.
Former Bishop of Truro Michael Ball and his paedophile ex-bishop twin Peter want to become Catholics so they can live in anonymity
8 DEC 2017
Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester who boasted of links to royalty, has asked to join the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton in Bristol, a spokesman for the Church confirmed.
His identical twin brother Michael Ball, who was Bishop of Truro from 1990 to 1997, also sent an email to friends telling them of the idea.
From the email…”The events of the last years and rightly or wrongly the battering by the Church have totally wearied and reduced us.
“We will probably be joining the Roman Catholic Church soon.
…Michael Ball’s complaint of taking a “battering” from the Church was “flippant” and it was “disgusting” the pair were acting as though they were the victims.
A spokesman for the Roman Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton said: “We confirm that Peter Ball has been in contact with the Roman Catholic diocese of Clifton, in which diocese he now lives, expressing an interest in becoming a member of the Catholic Church.
“This matter is subject to discussions between Clifton diocese and the statutory authorities, who are the lead with regards to Peter Ball’s risk management in the community.
Disgraced paedophile former bishop Peter Ball with close friend Prince Charles
Peter Ball’s sentence came 22 years after the abuse first surfaced. He eventually admitted misconduct in a public office and two counts of indecent assault.
The court heard how Peter Ball had convinced some of his victims to strip naked to pray and even suggested they submit to beatings between 1977 and 1992.
The first of his victims to come forward took his own life in 2012 after hearing Sussex Police had reopened the case.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey resigned as honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Oxford after the public inquiry into child sex abuse last year heard he delayed a “proper investigation” into Peter Ball’s crimes for two decades by failing to pass information to police.
There were fears Peter Ball may have taken the place of his twin, who was Bishop of Truro in the Nineties, and therefore duped congregations in other parts of the UK.
The Diocese of Truro was understood to be looking into the evidence that Peter Ball conducted services in Cornwall.
Now it has emerged the Archbishop of Canterbury’s headquarters received at least six letters from other alleged victims detailing “potentially criminal” and “totally inappropriate behaviour” by Peter Ball in the early 1990s but did not pass them on to police until years later.
“The Church appears to have resorted to staggering levels of deceit in order to prevent the true extent of Ball’s offending coming to light,” said Richard Scorer, a solicitor who is representing victims of Peter Ball.
Details of the letters, all sent to the Church between December 1992 and February 1993, reveal that Peter Ball encouraged victims to pray naked, perform sex acts in front of him and share his bed.
Anglican officials who reviewed the letters in 2009 suggested that, had such evidence been given to detectives in 1993, Peter Ball may have been convicted of serious sexual offences rather than merely cautioned.
But instead of being made public, the letters were kept in confidential files at Lambeth Palace.
It was not until 2012, after several internal inquiries, that the Church finally released documents to police.
An independent review is also currently under way into the way the Church of England responded to the case involving Peter Ball.
Church knew about allegations before Cornish preacher went on to abuse boys, investigation reveals
The diocese failed to investigate the accusations against Jeremy Dowling
25 MAY 2018
Dowling became such an important and valued worker and volunteer during a 40-year association with the diocese that a special service of thanks was given in his honour when he retired in 2009
A leading figure in the Church of England in Cornwall went on to commit child sex offences for several years after allegations about his behaviour with young boys were raised with the diocese and not acted upon, an official investigation has revealed.
The diocese failed to investigate the accusations against Jeremy Dowling, a lay preacher, allowing him to rise to influential positions including communications officer to the bishop, an independent review for the church concludes.
The report, released today, says there were “historic failings” within the diocese in dealing with the allegations, first raised in 1972. There was “ongoing knowledge” of the situation among senior figures in the diocese “well into the 1980s” with references to “a big fat file” on Dowling.
After the first allegations of Dowling abusing boys at a North Cornwall school where he taught were dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions – because of a lack of corroborative evidence – the then Bishop of Truro Maurice Key wrote: “I suppose the problem will now be to find him some other work”.
Dowling became such an important and valued worker and volunteer during a 40-year association with the diocese that a special service of thanks was given in his honour when he retired in 2009.
In 2015 he was jailed for seven years after pleading guilty at Truro Crown Court to 15 charges of sexually abusing boys under 16.
In 2016 he was jailed for an additional eight years after being found guilty of six further charges of indecently assaulting a boy between 1973 and 1977. Those offences happened when he befriended the boy while a lay preacher at a church in Budehaven – and took place after concerns were first raised with the diocese.
The report’s author said the lack of action by the diocese allowed Dowling to gain credibility and authority.
“Because they didn’t take it any further it enabled Jeremy Dowling to reach a position where he made up his own rules, and his position within the church lent him credibility and authority,” said Dr Andy Thompson, an academic, magistrate and member of the Diocesan Council.
The Bishop of St Germans, Rt Revd Dr Chris Goldsmith, apologised for the lack of action and the suffering that resulted.
The diocese failed to investigate the accusations against Jeremy Dowling, a lay preacher, allowing him to rise to influential positions including communications officer to the bishop, an independent review for the church concludes.
The report, released on Friday (May 25), says there were “historic failings” within the diocese in dealing with the allegations, first raised in 1972. There was “ongoing knowledge” of the situation among senior figures in the diocese “well into the 1980s” with references to “a big fat file” on Dowling.
Dowling became such an important and valued worker and volunteer during a 40-year association with the diocese that a special service of thanks was given in his honour when he retired in 2009.
In 2015 he was jailed for seven years after pleading guilty at Truro Crown Court to 15 charges of sexually abusing boys under 16.
In 2016 he was jailed for an additional eight years after being found guilty of six further charges of indecently assaulting a boy between 1973 and 1977. Those offences happened when he befriended the boy while a lay preacher at a church in Budehaven – and took place after concerns were first raised with the diocese.
One of the leaders who was named in the report was Michael Ball, 86, who was Bishop of Truro from 1990 to 1997. The Right Reverend Ball told the diocese he had been informed of the allegations about Dowling but had not seen any need to take action as there had not been a prosecution.
His identical twin, Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester who boasted of links to royalty, was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 for offences dating back to the 1970s against 18 young men at his home in East Sussex.
His sentence came 22 years after the abuse first surfaced. He eventually admitted misconduct in a public office and two counts of indecent assault. The court heard how Peter Ball had convinced some of his victims to strip naked to pray and even suggested they submit to beatings between 1977 and 1992.
The first of his victims to come forward took his own life in 2012 after hearing Sussex Police had reopened the case.
There were fears Peter Ball may have taken the place of his twin, who was Bishop of Truro in the Nineties, and therefore duped congregations in other parts of the UK.
The Diocese of Truro was understood to be looking into the evidence that Peter Ball conducted services in Cornwall.
Last year the brothers decided they wanted to become Catholics so they could live in anonimity. Peter Ball asked to join the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton in Bristol and both said they wanted to switch faith from the Church of England so they could “live and worship in anonymity” within the Catholic Church.
Former Bishop of Truro was Michael Ball, twin brother of convicted paedophile/friend of the royal family and Jimmy Savile – Bishop Peter Ball.
Jeremy Dowling
The Right Reverend Michael Ball – Bishop of Truro from 1990-97 – told the diocese he had been informed of the allegations but had not seen any need to take action as there had not been a prosecution.
A RECENT service at Truro Cathedral paid tribute to the work of Jeremy Dowling, the Diocese of Truro’s Communications Officer, who steps down at the end of December after more than 25 years in post. He has lived in the Bude area for more than 40 years.
On a wet and windswept evening, a congregation made up from clergy and people from across the diocese enjoyed a service that included readings, hymns and a sermon given by the former Bishop of Truro, Bishop Bill Ind. Also present were the current Bishop of Truro, The Rt Rev Tim Thornton, the Dean of Truro, The Very Rev Dr Christopher Hardwick, both Archdeacons and Mr Martin Follett, the Diocesan Registrar.
During his sermon, Bishop Bill paid tribute not only to the work that Jeremy undertook as Communications Officer but also his very substantial other work for the Diocese including nearly 40 years as a Reader,
seventeen years as Chairman of the House of Laity of the Diocesan Synod, one of the first people to be made Lay Canons of the Cathedral, a member of the General Synod for 27 years, as well as sitting at one time or another on virtually every Board and Committee of the Diocese.
He said, “Jeremy’s media and broadcasting skills are second to none.”
His experience and expertise in the television broadcast area was particularly noted, especially the background work he was able to do which led to programmes such as the very successful and popular BBC series ’Seaside Parish’ featuring Boscastle and the surrounding parishes, which enjoyed weekly audiences if over three million, ’Island Parish’ featuring the Isles of Scilly and ’The Monastery.’
Summing up, Bishop Bill said: “He has been a critical friend, someone who has told me the truth as he sees it. He has made me and indeed others both laugh and think and for both these things and much else I remain profoundly grateful. The Diocese owes him an enormous amount and so indeed do I and a host of others.”
Jeremy Dowling has lived in the Bude area of North Cornwall for more than forty years, with thirty years spent in the parish of St Gennys, and he is Chair of Governors of Budehaven Community School.
In his thanks and response to Bishop Bill, Jeremy noted how the communications role had changed greatly with much more emphasis today on electronic media. He acknowledged with gratitude the work of the local press and media, recognising its essential vitality and the key role it played in championing issues which were important for the church and for society.
“We have enjoyed excellent relations with the westcountry media” he said “and it has been a privilege to work with local journalists and broadcasters.”
He concluded by saying: “In my view, the strength of the Church remains in the local community. There is a lot going on. And the thread which runs through most of the stories is undeniably positive. They chronicle a vigorous, interesting, dynamic, eccentric and imaginative life in the church in Cornwall. Long may it
continue.”
After refreshments, a large bouquet was presented by Bishop Tim to Daphne Dowling in recognition of her support for her husband, and Jeremy was presented with a substantial cheque from parishes and individuals in the Diocese
BIG SOCIETY: Pictured above, with Prime Minister David Cameron and North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson, are Co-founder of Community Action Through Sport (CATS) and volunteer Denise Jane May, CATS trustee and volunteer Jeremy Dowling, CATS Project Development Manager Karen Hemmings, CATS Project Development Assistant Louise Anne Harris and CATS trustee and volunteer Sharon Caroline Marshall.
Ex Truro Diocese worker Jeremy Dowling sexually abused boys
5 June 2015
An ex-Diocese of Truro press officer has admitted sexually abusing boys over a period of more than 10 years.
Jeremy Dowling, 76, carried out the assaults on five children, aged between 12 and 15, from 1959 to 1971.
Truro Crown Court heard Dowling abused the boys at sporting events and in toilets while working as a teacher in Devon.
The Bishop of Truro described Dowling’s offences as “deeply shocking” and said his thoughts were with the victims.
Sentencing was adjourned until July 10 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
Dowling, of Church Path, Bude, retired from the Diocese of Truro in 2009 after 25 years of service.
‘Damaging impact’
He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of indecent assault on boys aged 12 to 15 and two counts of indecency with a child.
The court heard one assault was carried out on a boy at a cricket match. Others took place in an attic, in storage rooms at a sporting pavilion and in outside toilets.
The Right Reverend Tim Thornton, Bishop of Truro, said many people would have known Dowling as a reader at St Michael’s Church and St Genny’s Church in Bude and as a member of the Diocesan and General Synods.
Bishop Thornton said: “Offences like this will have a damaging and lasting impact on people’s lives.
Former Cornwall preacher Jeremy Dowling ‘assaulted boy’
The assaults happened when Jeremy Dowling was a lay preacher at two churches in the Bude area of Cornwall, Truro Crown Court was told.
Mr Dowling met the boy when he was 10 through church activities and “took him under his wing”.
He has denied six counts of indecent assault on a child and two counts of gross indecency with a child.
The assaults happened in the 1970s before Mr Dowling became a press spokesman for the Diocese of Truro, the court heard.
‘Long time ago’
Jo Martin, prosecuting, said some of the assaults took place at Mr Dowling’s house after the boy had been invited for dinner and on one occasion he was taken to a church on the north coast.
She said Mr Dowling took him up a tower and showed him the view, then took him to a room and assaulted him.
The alleged victim did not tell anyone when he was a child but later, when he was married, told his wife about the assaults.
He said when his wife rang up Mr Dowling, accusing him of being a paedophile, Mr Dowling replied “that was a long time ago”.
He said he eventually went to the police after reading in news reports that Mr Dowling had admitted abusing five boys when he was a teacher at a private school in the 1960s.
Mr Dowling is currently serving a jail term for those offences.
A RECENT service at Truro Cathedral paid tribute to the work of Jeremy Dowling, the Diocese of Truro’s Communications Officer, who steps down at the end of December after more than 25 years in post. He has lived in the Bude area for more than 40 years.
On a wet and windswept evening, a congregation made up from clergy and people from across the diocese enjoyed a service that included readings, hymns and a sermon given by the former Bishop of Truro, Bishop Bill Ind. Also present were the current Bishop of Truro, The Rt Rev Tim Thornton, the Dean of Truro, The Very Rev Dr Christopher Hardwick, both Archdeacons and Mr Martin Follett, the Diocesan Registrar.
During his sermon, Bishop Bill paid tribute not only to the work that Jeremy undertook as Communications Officer but also his very substantial other work for the Diocese including nearly 40 years as a Reader,
seventeen years as Chairman of the House of Laity of the Diocesan Synod, one of the first people to be made Lay Canons of the Cathedral, a member of the General Synod for 27 years, as well as sitting at one time or another on virtually every Board and Committee of the Diocese.
He said, “Jeremy’s media and broadcasting skills are second to none.”
His experience and expertise in the television broadcast area was particularly noted, especially the background work he was able to do which led to programmes such as the very successful and popular BBC series ’Seaside Parish’ featuring Boscastle and the surrounding parishes, which enjoyed weekly audiences if over three million, ’Island Parish’ featuring the Isles of Scilly and ’The Monastery.’
Summing up, Bishop Bill said: “He has been a critical friend, someone who has told me the truth as he sees it. He has made me and indeed others both laugh and think and for both these things and much else I remain profoundly grateful. The Diocese owes him an enormous amount and so indeed do I and a host of others.”
Jeremy Dowling has lived in the Bude area of North Cornwall for more than forty years, with thirty years spent in the parish of St Gennys, and he is Chair of Governors of Budehaven Community School.
In his thanks and response to Bishop Bill, Jeremy noted how the communications role had changed greatly with much more emphasis today on electronic media. He acknowledged with gratitude the work of the local press and media, recognising its essential vitality and the key role it played in championing issues which were important for the church and for society.
“We have enjoyed excellent relations with the westcountry media” he said “and it has been a privilege to work with local journalists and broadcasters.”
He concluded by saying: “In my view, the strength of the Church remains in the local community. There is a lot going on. And the thread which runs through most of the stories is undeniably positive. They chronicle a vigorous, interesting, dynamic, eccentric and imaginative life in the church in Cornwall. Long may it
continue.”
After refreshments, a large bouquet was presented by Bishop Tim to Daphne Dowling in recognition of her support for her husband, and Jeremy was presented with a substantial cheque from parishes and individuals in the Diocese
Former Archbishop of Canterbury could face police probe into whether he broke the law by covering up for a paedophile bishop
Police are considering a formal inquiry into Church of England’s former leader
Lord Carey, 82, could face being interviewed under caution in investigation
Rev Peter Ball indecently assaulted 18 boys and young men from 1977 to 1992
Former leaders could face criminal charges for not passing on abuse complaints
25 November 2017
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, could face a police investigation into whether he broke the law by covering up for a paedophile bishop.
Officers are understood to be considering a formal inquiry to determine whether the former leader of the Church of England and other senior church officials should face criminal charges over their failure to pass on sex abuse complaints made against ex-bishop Peter Ball.
Such an investigation would be highly controversial and may involve 82-year-old Lord Carey being interviewed under caution.
Sources say police are collecting evidence and scrutinising a scathing Church of England report commissioned by the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
It concludes that senior church figures ‘colluded’ to protect Ball and says the decision by Lambeth Palace not to pass the complaints to police ‘must give rise to a perception of deliberate concealment’.
Lawyers representing victims of Ball, who have called for a police investigation, believe the former Archbishop could face a charge of misconduct in a public office, for which the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
Ball, a friend of the Prince of Wales, (and other members of the royal family) was jailed for 32 months in 2015 after indecently assaulting 18 boys and young men between 1977 and 1992 in one of the biggest scandals ever to rock the Church of England.
It has been claimed, however, that he might have been convicted more than 20 years earlier had Lord Carey and his staff at Lambeth Palace not withheld from the police six letters making other claims about his behaviour. The letters were sent in by members of the public after allegations against Ball surfaced in the 1990s. Ball was arrested and subsequently resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993.
But his only punishment at that time was a caution for gross indecency for molesting a teenage monk and he was later allowed a licence to work as a retired priest.
Peter Ball, pictured with Prince Charles, was jailed for 32 months in 2015 after indecently assaulting 18 boys and young men between 1977 and 1992
Last year, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Anglican officials who had privately reviewed the case suggested that had the letters been given to detectives in 1993, Ball may have been convicted of serious sexual offences.
The report commissioned by Archbishop Welby, published this summer, concluded that the ‘greatest failure’ of the handling of the case was the ‘management’ of the correspondence, in which Lord Carey was ‘significantly involved’.
Lord Carey strongly denies any cover-up or collusion. His supporters have also argued that Ball could still have received a caution in 1993 even if Lambeth Palace had handed the letters to the authorities.
David Greenwood, the head of the child abuse department at Switalskis solicitors and who represents a number of victims of Peter Ball, said the failure to pass them on provided ‘reasonable grounds’ for the Metropolitan police to open a formal investigation.
The Met and Lord Carey both declined to comment.
Lord Carey is already facing questioning next year by the Government’s independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
The court heard that police documents in the 1990s revealed they received telephone calls of support for the disgraced bishop from dozens of people, including MPs, former public school headmasters, magistrates and a judge. In addition, his defence team claimed to have more than ‘two thousand letters of support… including letters from cabinet ministers and Royal Family,’ said prosecutor Bobbie Cheema-Grubb QC at the Old Bailey.
Keith Porteous Wood, National Secular Society executive director, commented: “Such volumes could not have been achieved without an huge orchestrated campaign. Copies of the letters should be examined, as complete a list as possible of writers and callers obtained, particularly for those of high profile as their support would have been especially influential. It should be established whose idea this was, who masterminded it and who carried it out.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has recently commissioned an independent review of how the Church dealt with the allegations, but the National Secular Society has expressed concerns that the review will not have the scope required to establish the full extent of wrongdoing.
Speaking after sentence was handed down, Mr Wood said: “Much more important than Ball’s sentence is that this case has demonstrated the power the Church which has even recently bullied victims into silence and sought to curry favour with the law to let off perpetrators, or let them off lightly and impose reporting restrictions.
“Ball’s case is a disgraceful catalogue of the legal system letting him off at every juncture. Just last month, two serious charges were inexplicably ordered to ‘lay on the court file’ – presumably to be ignored at least until Ball becomes too old or unfit to stand trial, a ruse he has already tried.
“Abuse victims’ lives are often ruined by the abuse, they are much more likely to be substance abusers and vulnerable to suicidal impulses. One of Ball’s victims, Neil Todd, killed himself and another, Graham Sawyer of Briercliffe, said that he had wished at times that he were dead. He was adamant that ‘people at the highest levels of the Church are more concerned with ‘saving face’.”
Mr Wood said there were numerous examples of this evident in Ball’s case alone.
“Evidence abounds of an institutional culture of intimidation of victims, in effect compounding the abuse, robbing the victims of justice, and not just allowing the perpetrator to escape justice, but enabling them to continue the abuse.
“The extent to which the Church’s attitude has changed is as yet unclear. Several survivors were recently reported to have been told by Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham (responsible for dealing with abuse), that ‘the Church was too busy working on banking reform’ to have time for abuse responses, and his statement when Ball pleaded guilty was perfunctory, given the depth of the Church’s complicity and the extent to which that had increased the suffering of victims. Sawyer maintains that Bishop Butler ‘is out of his depth, and should step aside’.
Moira Gibb Report on the Church of England and convicted paedophile Bishop Ball:
25 June 2017
The report of Dame Moira Gibb into the Church of England’s handling of the abusive bishop Peter Ball makes shocking reading. It reveals a concern for appearance over reality, for the institution over the individual and, most of all, for the strong and powerful over the weak and vulnerable. From the moment the first victims came forward, the response of the church up to the highest level was one of institutional self-protection.
The complaint was not reported to the police, but only to the archbishop of Canterbury, then George Carey, who persisted long past the point of reason in hoping that his colleague was innocent.The police were not told until after the first victim to come forward, Neil Todd, had attempted suicide twice – and even then it was his parents and not the church who made the complaint. The diocese of Gloucester hired a former policeman to investigate, and if possible discredit, the witnesses.
After news of Bishop Ball’s arrest broke, Lambeth Palace received seven independent accusations about his earlier behaviour. Two were seen by Archbishop Carey, who replied to them personally. Only one of the seven, though, was passed to the police, and that the least damning. Lord Carey’s message to the diocese after Bishop Ball was arrested urged prayers for the bishop and said nothing about victims. After Bishop Ball had retired on spurious grounds of ill health and accepted a caution – though remaining in denial about his crimes – Lord Carey worked to have him rehabilitated. True, he did so with less ingenuity than Peter Ball’s identical twin Michael, himself a bishop, who has admitted allowing his twin to deputise for him at “one or two events”, even after his disgrace.
Lord Carey nevertheless gave Peter Ball £12,000 from church funds, leading to loud complaints from the brothers, who had wanted £20,000. He deliberately kept Peter Ball’s name off the Lambeth blacklist of unemployable clergy; he had the disgraced bishop to stay at Lambeth Palace twice; he attempted to find him work in South Africa (writing to Desmond Tutu for this scheme) and in prisons; he wrote to an American parish that “Peter was possibly the victim of a plot but that, of course, cannot be proved”. Lord Carey’s only objection to a full rehabilitation of Bishop Ball as a retired bishop was that it might provoke unfavourable publicity.
This was disgraceful, and the result has been a deserved disgrace. But it was part of a culture of privilege, power and make-believe that corrupted more than one bishop. Lord Carey’s successor, Rowan Williams did nothing to help Bishop Ball but very little and very slowly to hinder him either.
In 1993 the CPS agreed to issue Ball with a caution, rather than prosecute, after the personal intervention of then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey.
Alun:
In no way would I wish to influence the decision about Bishop Ball. No? But you did so pull the other one next time!
Alun:
I have only 2 explanations for this: 1) Carey condones abuse, or 2) he was protecting a friend of Bishop Ball.
Dr Andrew Watt@DrAndrewWatt
It’s important to know if Prince of Wales helped Ball. cf
Goddard inquiry: Outrage as bishop Peter Ball jailed for sex offences given public funding for legal team
30 July 2016
A lawyer close to the inquiry said: “I was really surprised Ball was given funding. The issue is about how he was allowed to get away with it by the Church not about his offending. He has already been investigated and pleaded guilty.”
Bishop Peter Ball, convicted, to Enoch Powell, fascist and alleged satanist and child abuser:
Peter Ball sending the love of God to Enoch and Pam! What a mistake!
Further evidence of close relationship between godly convict Bishop Ball and ‘Rivers of Blood’ Enoch:
Oh, just remind me again who were Enoch’s two aides and buddies! Ah, yes. Proctor and Denby!
Denby – Powell aide on the run
It is thought the armed hold up incident in Down St not far from MI5 offices, may have been linked to Ulster Loyalist terrorist organisations. The following day, Denby phoned an old friend – far right Tory MP Harvey Proctor – and told him he was going abroad.
Denby is said to have visited Ulster several times.
A specialist on shipping law, Denby visited both Iran and Iraq,
He is also alleged to have twice broken into the home of a former senior partner to search for private papers and to have falsified information to a building society so he could extend the mortgage on his Islington home.
Interesting that Barbara Hewson says satanic sexual abuse doesn’t exist while her cousin worked for Enoch Powell who is accused of just that
Why does the Gin Goblin so categorically deny the existence of satanic child abuse like this in Proctor’s home county?
Satanism in Sussex
LazerLight @Lazer_Light23
‘Four months earlier, in the weeks before Christmas, someone had visited churches in Lewes and smashed the model nativity scenes, tearing the heads off the plaster figures.’
Interesting that Enoch Powell corresponded both with Ball and Montagu who were both let off the hook by Skelhorn.
Can you see what it is yet?
Rev Peter Ball was one of many to correspond with Enoch. Others included Atkinson friend Tonypandy, another alleged abuser.
MI5 knew of cover-up over Cyril Smith child abuse, inquiry hears
9 Oct 2017
MI5 knew the country’s chief prosecutor had covered up a sex abuse inquiry into Cyril Smith but did nothing because it was not its job to expose paedophiles, an inquiry has heard.
Files released by the intelligence agency show it was aware that the Director of Public prosecutions (DPP) had lied to a newspaper over its decision not to prosecute Smith. But it decided not to make the information public because its duty was to ‘defend the realm’ rather than to expose a prominent politicians accused of being a paedophile.
The disclosure came during the first day of hearings into how Smith, the former Liberal MP, was able to abuse boys at Cambridge House hostel and Knowl View residential school in Rochdale. Smith died in 2010, having never faced prosecution.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) last night released an MI5 briefing note which showed how Sir Thomas Hetherington, the then DPP, had lied to a local newspaper about the existence of a 1970 police inquiry into allegations of gross indecency made against Smith.
Had the DPP admitted Smith had been under investigation, it would have led to a new inquiry and Smith being put on trial in his lifetime.
Hetherington had called a legal adviser in the intelligence agency to inform him of the press interest from David Bartlett, a journalist with the Rochdale Alternative Press. The briefing note states: “After consultations, the DPP’s press representative had untruthfully told Bartlett that they had no record of this case. In fact their file closely accorded with the details given by Bartlett.”
The MI5 file from 1979
The memo, from the MI5 legal adviser and written in April 1979, goes on to suggest that the South African intelligence agency had been “trying to obtain compromising information about political figures” and that Smith was one of them.
The police investigation into Smith had been closed nine years earlier in 1970 by Hetherington’s predecessor Sir Norman Skelhorn who decided it was unlikely to lead to a prosecution.
Skelhorn’s decision was made despite a senior detective warning that the “sordid” accusations against Smith “stood up”.
Brian Altman QC, IICSA’s lead counsel, told the inquiry: “The documents show that the Security Service’s legal adviser was informed of the false representations to the press from the DPP’s office.
“Based upon their review of the information they hold, the Security Service considers they took active steps to ensure that those involved in investigating allegations of child sexual abuse against Smith were made aware of all information of relevance to their inquiries.
Rathbone was not only David Cameron’s godfather; he was also a relative. David Cameron is related to Queenie. Is that the secret to the support to Ball?
Establishment figures who helped disgraced bishop avoid prosecution for sex abuse revealed
Harvey Proctor being pronounced a saint by his buddies reminds me of the way Don’t-Carey took Ball under his wings.
Alun:
Interesting how Ball associated with Apartheid supporters but was in turn aided by Rathbone, an opponent of Apartheid.
Former Lord Justice Anthony Lloyd and David Cameron’s late godfather Tory MP Tim Rathbone among figures who wrote in support of former Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, one said he was a “saint”
Interesting how Ball associated with Apartheid supporters but was in turn aided by Rathbone, an opponent of Apartheid.
Bishop of Chichester Eric Kemp labelling Ball’s accusers as ‘mischief makers’
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
Northleach = Ball = Harding = Jennings (lifelong Ball friend) = Prince Charles Coincidence?
Church of England colluded with bishop who abused boys, says Welby
Report about bishop Peter Ball, finding collusion over 20 years, is ‘harrowing reading’
Collusion: Secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy
Senior figures in the Church of England colluded for a period of 20 years with a disgraced former bishop who sexually abused boys and men, a damning independent report has found.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said the report on the church’s handling of former bishop Peter Ball made “harrowing reading”.
“The church colluded and concealed rather than seeking to help those who were brave enough to come forward. This is inexcusable and shocking behaviour,” he said.
“To the survivors who were brave enough to share their story and bring Peter Ball to justice, I once again offer an unreserved apology. There are no excuses whatsoever for what took place and the systemic abuse of trust perpetrated by Peter Ball over decades.”
Two former archbishops of Canterbury, George Carey and Rowan Williams, apologised to the victims of Peter Ball after being criticised for their failures in relation to him.
Ball, the former bishop of both Gloucester and Lewes, was jailed in October 2015 for the grooming, sexual exploitation and abuse of 18 vulnerable young men aged 17-25 who had sought spiritual guidance from him between 1977 and 1992. He was released from prison in February after serving 16 months.
His trial heard that after Ball was first accused in 1993, a string of senior establishment figures – including Carey, an unidentified member of the royal family, cabinet ministers and a high court judge – came forward in his support, writing letters to the police and Crown Prosecution Service.
Ball was cautioned by police. He resigned his post as bishop and retired to a rented cottage on the Prince of Wales’s Duchy of Cornwall estate butcontinued to officiate in 17 public schools until 2007. A fresh investigation was opened in 2012 which led to his conviction.
One of Ball’s victims, Neil Todd – the first to come forward with allegations of abuse – attempted suicide three times before killing himself in 2012.
Welby ordered an independent review of the church’s handling of the case, chaired by Dame Moira Gibb, former chief executive of Camden council.
The report said Ball’s case was dealt with at the highest levels within the church. He “was seen by the church as the man in trouble who the church needed to help”.
Ball was portrayed as a victim, and the review found “little evidence of compassion for Neil Todd even though from the outset it was clear that he was a vulnerable young man who had come to harm”.
It added: “The church appears to have been most interested in protecting itself.”
In the foreword to her report, An Abuse of Faith, published on Thursday, Gibb said the serious sexual wrongdoing of Ball “is shocking in itself but is compounded by the failure of the church to respond appropriately to his misconduct, again over a period of many years”.
“Ball’s priority was to protect and promote himself and he maligned the abused. The church colluded. The church colluded with that rather than seeking to help those he had harmed, or assuring itself of the safety of others.”
The report added, “progress has been slow and continuing, faster improvement is still required”.
Gibb made 11 recommendations in her report, including improving support to survivors of clerical abuse and taking steps to “demonstrate the individual and collective accountability of bishops”.
Peter Hancock, the C of E’s lead safeguarding bishop, who received the report on behalf of the church, said it had failed Ball’s survivors. “Having read the report I am appalled and disturbed by its contents … As a church we colluded, we failed to act and protect those who came forward for help. There are no excuses. We accept all the recommendations and are working to action them.”
Rowan Williams: ‘It is clear I did not give adequate priority to sorting out the concerns and allegations surrounding Peter Ball.’
He added: “For the survivors, it may feel this is all too late.”
According to the report, Ball intimated “on many occasions, to Lord Carey and others, that he enjoys the status of confidant of the Prince of Wales” and “sought to exploit his contact with members of the royal family in order to bolster his position”.
Bishop Ball with Prince Charles and Camilla. Ball gave the homily at the funeral of Camilla Parker Bowles’s father, Major Bruce Shand, in 2006
Moira Gibb is made a Dame CBE by the Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace back in 2012
However, Dame Moira Gibb’s report went on, it “found no evidence that the Prince of Wales or any other member of the royal family sought to intervene at any point in order to protect or promote Ball”.
Carey was criticised in the report, which said he “set the tone for the church’s response to Ball’s crimes and gave the steer which allowed Ball’s assertions that he was innocent to gain credence”.
In a statement responding to the report, Carey said it made “uncomfortable reading” and he accepted its criticisms of him. “I apologise to the victims of Peter Ball. I believed Peter Ball’s protestations and gave too little credence to the vulnerable young men and boys behind those allegations.”
Carey said he regretted not putting Ball’s name on the Lambeth List – names of people whose suitability for ministry is under question – after he was cautioned.
Under the leadership of Williams, the church began reviewing past cases, a move which ultimately led to the criminal case against Ball being reopened, the report said. However, he was criticised as being “lamentably slow” in making change.
In a statement, Williams said: “Having read the report and reflected on its details, it is clear I did not give adequate priority to sorting out the concerns and allegations surrounding Peter Ball at the earliest opportunity. I recognise such a delay is likely to have increased the pressure and distress experienced by the survivors of his abuse and I am sincerely sorry for this.”
He’s one of the gatekeepers I’ve seen campaigning in Lords to clear name of another Bishop Bell from 1950s. Children don’t feature at all
Sex abuse bishop Peter Ball released from prison
4 February 2017
Peter Ball, 84, was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after admitting a string of historical sex offences against 18 teenagers and young men.
The former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester was released from jail on Friday after serving 16 months.
Phil Johnson said he had served “less than a month for each of the victims”.
Richard Scorer, a lawyer representing a number of Ball’s victims, said his early release was “an affront to justice” and “a huge blow to his victims”.
“This was a man whose appalling crimes represented a gross and systematic abuse of trust spanning decades,” he said.
He said the sentence handed down to him was “in no way proportionate to the crimes committed”, and it seemed he had been freed “at the earliest opportunity”.
Mr Johnson said its publication was not likely “for several more months”.
“I think it’s utterly ridiculous that it’s taken longer to write a report on what happened than it has for Peter Ball to serve his jail sentence,” he said.
Prince Charles’ bishop ‘friend’ is freed from prison early – despite committing horrific sex offences against 18 teenagers and young men
4 February 2017
A predatory bishop who had links to Prince Charles has been freed from prison halfway through his sentence for sex offences.
Peter Ball, described as a ‘monster’ by his victims, served only 16 months for grooming and molesting aspiring novice monks. One victim committed suicide while others have suffered long-lasting trauma.
Survivors condemned the early release of the 84-year-old former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester.
He was jailed for 32 months in 2015 for offences against 18 teenagers and young men between 1977 and 1992, but was allowed out on licence at the halfway point of his sentence.
Richard Scorer, an abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon who represented some of Ball’s victims, said his early release after ‘a gross and systematic abuse of trust spanning decades’ was ‘an affront to justice’.
Ball was first investigated in 1992 but escaped with a caution. It emerged later that an unnamed royal was among Establishment figures who had written in support of Ball at the time.
After his caution, Ball was provided with a Duchy of Cornwall home by Prince Charles. Ball counted Charles as a ‘loyal friend’
Mr Scorer added: “What is equally frustrating is that despite his conviction we still have not got to the bottom of which establishment figures – including MPs, cabinet ministers and members of the Royal Family – came out in support of him in the 1990s and prevented justice being served then.
“This is a disgrace and those who suffered at Ball’s hands deserve answers.”
One of Ball’s victims said: “Ball’s crimes led to one of his victims committing suicide so how can 16 months in jail be justice?
“There are still many questions that need answers about who helped him cover up his crimes and what happened.
“What is crucially important is that the inquiry into child abuse answers these questions before it is too late.”
The CoE said Ball has been prohibited from ministry for life.
However the National Probation Service has had to draw up “bespoke” licence conditions with the Church so he can continue to exercise his right to worship.
It is understood that the bespoke licence conditions in place are very strict, and include Ball being forbidden from doing or wearing anything that would give him clerical status, or from leading a service.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said sex offenders are “robustly risk assessed and subject to a strict set of conditions”.
“If they fail to comply, they can be recalled to prison,” the spokesman said.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Rev Justin Welby, has commissioned an independent review – led by Dame Moira Gibb according to reports – into how the Church dealt with the allegations against Ball.
Revealed: Charles’ dozens of letters to ‘calculating’ paedophile bishop as victims demand they are made public
Jan 27 2017
Prince Charles is believed to have written to paedophile bishop Peter Ball
Ball was jailed two years ago for using his position to groom 18 young men
The former Bishop of Gloucester exchanged letters with Prince Charles
Clarence House stressed the letters are not connected with Ball’s case
Victims of a paedophile bishop last night called for dozens of letters he received from Prince Charles to be made public.
Extensive correspondence is understood to exist between the future king and Peter Ball, the ‘calculating’ former Bishop of Gloucester, who was jailed after admitting exploiting his position to groom and abuse 18 young men.
The prince’s letters now have been handed to an independent inquiry into the case, launched after Ball was convicted two years ago.
It is not clear what role, if any, they will play in the inquiry which is examining the Church’s handling of the Ball case, but Charles has not given any evidence to it either formally or informally nor has he or his team been asked to.
The content of the letters is unknown, but in a statement yesterday, Clarence House said they believed there was nothing in them which pertained to the case.
A spokesman for the prince said: ‘We do not believe that the letters have any bearing on the issues before the inquiry, but we have not objected to them being shared for their consideration.’
Royal sources insist it would be perfectly normal for the future king to write to the priest, who in 1992 became Bishop of Gloucester, the diocese in which Charles’ country home, Highgrove, sits.
One said that the existence of letters between the two simply reflected their ‘long-standing acquaintance’.
Ball was Bishop of Gloucester which covers Prince Charles’s Highgrove Estate
It is not clear if the prince continued to write to Ball after his well-publicised earlier arrest and police caution for gross indecency against a 17-year-old boy in 1993.
Ball escaped prosecution for this offence, despite investigators knowing of ‘many’ more allegations against him, after the police received dozens of supportive letters and calls from MPs, former public headmasters, JPs and even a Lord Chief Justice.
At the time his lawyers also told the police they had a letter of support from a member of the Royal Family, but prosecutors said they had not seen this correspondence and there is no evidence that this letter even existed.
However, Ball clearly did continue to enjoy cordial relations with the royals as he read the homily at the funeral of the father of the Duchess of Cornwall in 2006
Prince Charles awarding honour toDame Moira Gibb. Moira Gibb is made a Dame CBE by the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace back in 2012
The letters from Charles are understood to have been handed to the Church of England’s independent inquiry, which is being led by former council chief executive Dame Moira Gibb.
A Church of England spokesman said: ‘We are supplying the inquiry with all information relevant to the inquiry’s purposes as set out in its Terms of Reference.’
The Government’s separate child abuse inquiry is also due to investigate whether there were ‘inappropriate attempts by people of prominence to interfere in the criminal justice processes’ after Ball was first accused of child sexual offences 24 years ago.
Phil Johnson, one of Ball’s victims and chairman of the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors group, last night called for the letters to be made public in the ‘spirit of openness.’
He said: ‘I think the victims have a right to know what is in them. They may of course just be innocent letters between friends. But given the grave concerns about how the case was handled, the public also have a right to know what the future head of state wrote to Ball for the avoidance of any doubt.’
After his second arrest in 2015, Ball claimed his victims had been ‘spiritually uplifted’ by his treatment of them. The court heard how he targeted young men seeking spiritual instruction on the Bishop’s ‘Give a Year for Christ’ scheme.
He changed his plea at the last minute and admitted to offences against 18 teenagers and young men between 1977 and 1992. He was sentenced to 32 months for misconduct in public office and 15 months for indecent assault, to run concurrently.
The lawyer for some of those he abused said the way establishment figures closed ranks around him had ‘compounded his victims’ anguish’.
Two years ago, 27 letters that Charles sent to ministers between September 2004 and April 2005 were published after a decade-long legal battle over their release that went to the Supreme Court
Second member of Fiona Woolf inquiry admits controversial links with Lord Brittan
Dame Moira Gibb, who is to sit with Fiona Woolf on the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry, confirms she also has a link with Lord Brittan
Dame Moira Gibb – who was appointed to sit on the panel along with a number of other experts – has admitted a close personal friend worked with Lord Brittan during part of the period which will be closely scrutinised by the inquiry.
In a letter to Theresa May, the Home Secretary, on October 17 Dame Moira said she had no “direct interest in the matters to which the inquiry relates”.
But just five days later she was forced to write to Mrs May again.
She wrote: “I would like to set out that Mr Gerald Malone, whom I declared as a personal friend, informed me last night that he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Brittan in 1985 when Lord Brittan was Secretary of State for Trade and Investment, and a Government whip from 1986-1987.
Gerald Malone was a Conservative MP in Baroness Thatcher’s and Sir John Major’s governments.
As a trusted worker for Lord Brittanin the 1980s it is conceivable the sex abuse inquiry may wish to take evidence from him about Lord Brittan’s tenure at Home Office.
Other career politicians on the board of General Mediterranean or its subsidiaries are former Liberal party leader Lord Steel, former president of the European commission Jacques Santer, former Conservative chancellor Norman Lamont and former Tory health minster Gerry Malone, who is chairman of Regent.
People don’t like Gerry Malone much. He’s seen as arrogant, unclubbable. ‘I had few friends in politics and it remains so.’ He’s a pal of Andrew Neil’s. John Major’s, too.
He now has a non-executive role in several companies, including Regent GM Laboratories, Ultrasis and Chiltern Invodex.
link
20 May 2003
It has been a long and varied career path from engineering student to teacher, social worker and senior director. …management experience on a four-strong executive board running Kensington and Chelsea council, west London.
She joins a growing list of social services directors making it to the very top in local government, moving to the north London borough of Camden as its £140,000-a-year chief executive.
Director of social services in Kensington and Chelsea since 1990
Gibb’s long path to the top began after a two-year engineering course at Glasgow University. She decided it was not for her, moved into teaching – secondary modern in Newham, east London -but soon decided to move on.
“I had a friend who was a social worker and, while I did not know what they did, I was enthusiastic,” Gibb says. She returned to Scotland for a social work degree course in Edinburgh, and then spent five years in Newcastle upon Tyne, working in the city’s tough Scotswood area.
After a spell teaching social work in Preston, she moved south to Surrey, becoming an adviser in child care, then joined the west London borough of Ealing – rising to assistant social services director, before joining Kensington and Chelsea in 1988 as deputy director. She was promoted to director two years later.
Dame Moira Gibb is a non-executive member of the UK Statistics Authority.
Dame Moira is Chair of Skills for Care and Chair of City Lit Adult Education College.
She is a non-executive director of the NHS England and chairs its Investment Committee.
She is a member of the Council of Reading University. Her career was in social services and local government, latterly as Chief Executive of Camden Council. She was a Civil Service Commissioner from 2012-15 and a Director of the London Marathon from 2005-11.
Malone is married to a leading Scottish doctor, Anne Blyth. He made tabloid headlines in 1995 when, still a minister, he attended a live sex show.
Mr Malone, who was a health minister in John Major’s government and is now editor of the European, has issued a formal apology to the title’s features editor, Nicola Davidson, after making a drunken sexual approach to her and then hitting her around the head when he was rebuffed.
…He initially became chairman of Regent GM, one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of generic drugs to the NHS, before moving to his current role as chairman of Ultrasis, which specialises in computerised cognitive behavioural therapy software.
But controversy has never been far away where Malone is concerned, and last year he faced an unprecedented challenge to his role in a shareholders’ revolt. Susan Malin, a 42-year-old accountant, stood for election to the board following a row over executive pay, claiming the company was being run “like an old boys’ network”. Unlike the people of Winchester, however, the shareholders stood by him, and the former Tory minister lives to fight another day.
He re-entered parliament in 1992, representing the “safe” Conservative seat of Winchester. He was appointed a Minister of State at the Department of Health in 1994, when Virginia Bottomley was the Secretary of State.
Production of Award Ceremony in the presence of the Prime Minister (1991): The Princess Margaret (1992); Virginia Bottomley (1993); Gerry Malone (1994); Secretary of State (1995).
Nurses jeer Minister as strike looms Threat of action by 900,000 NHS staff
May 1995
NURSES were poised to tear up their long-standing no-strike rule after Ministers yesterday refused to back down on controversial local pay deals.
Junior Health Minister Baroness Cumberlege was booed and heckled by members of the Royal College of Nursing meeting in Harrogate for their annual congress, when she claimed that local pay bargaining was here to stay.
She ended with a defiant message for the Prime Minister, Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley, and Health Minister Gerry Malone.
”We will fight for nursing and for the health services of this country, to ensure that our campaign marks a turning point for nursing, and to use the tremendous support we have received to create a better future. We will fight to win this battle and move on to win the war.”
Anger over massive pensions gulf between local authority bosses and ordinary workers
24 March 2009
At least seven London local government bosses are heading for final salary pensions of more than £100,000 a year, the Evening Standard has learned.
They are the first of a new generation of high-earning council chiefs, now in their fifties, who can look forward to six-figure retirement incomes once their careers are over.
The size of the pensions has angered union leaders, who have drawn attention to the vast gap between the “fat cat” bosses at the top of the local authority earnings league and the average London council worker pension of around £4,000.
And three of those due for a windfall have been criticised for serious failings in their social services department after children died.
But councils said the pensions were justified. A spokeswoman for Camden council, where chief executive Moira Gibb is set to retire on a pension of more than £109,000, said: “All local government pension holders pay a proportion of their own wage into these pension schemes and for some people these reflect years of service.
Moira Gibb
Chief executive of Camden
Age: not disclosed
Salary: £210,000
Estimate local government career at retirement: 40 years
Annual pension: £109,375 (£2,187,500 pot)
Lump sum: £267,750
Moira Gibb qualified as a social worker after a short teaching career. She has worked in social services departments in Newcastle, Surrey, Ealing and Kensington and Chelsea. Since being appointed as Chief Executive of Camden, four serious case reviews have been carried out into the death or serious injury of a child as a result of abuse or neglect. One, a six-year-old girl, was murdered in 2005 by her mother’s boyfriend, despite being on the child protection register. Ms Gibb announced a restructuring of children’s services “to improve the welfare of all children”. The next year a two-month-old boy died after “horrific” abuse.
THE woman leading the Baby P taskforce faces questions after two children died from abuse on her watch, the Evening Standard can reveal.
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls appointed Moira Gibb from Camden council to review social services across England in the wake of the Baby P scandal. But a series of failings by Ms Gibb’s social workers in two separate cases raised concerns over her suitability for the role.
An Evening Standard investigation found that four inquiries have been held into the death or serious harm of a child from suspected abuse or neglect in Camden in the last five years.
Among the victims was a six-year-old girl, Ukleigha Batten-Froggatt, who was murdered in 2005 by her mother’s boyfriend, despite being placed on Camden’s child protection register. Her mother was also killed in the attack.
Social workers failed to check the police records of his mother’s boyfriend, who was revealed as a convicted child sex attacker with a “troubled” past.
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls appointed Moira Gibb from Camden council to review social services across England
Haringey’s MP, Lynne Featherstone, questioned the appointment of Ms Gibb in light of the other cases in Camden.
“This is concerning information,” she said. “It must, unfortunately, put a question mark over Ed Balls’s choice. He should look into the background here so we are reassured over his choice to lead the taskforce.”
Ms Gibb, who has been chief executive of Camden since 2003, said she did not “seek” the role but was asked to take it on.
Dame Moira Gibb: Non-executive Director and Chair of the Investment Committee
Dame Moira Gibb is Chair of Skills for Care and Chair of City Lit Adult Education College. She is a non-executive director of the UK Statistics Authority and a member of the Council of Reading University.
Her career was in social services and local government, latterly as Chief Executive of Camden Council. She was a Civil Service Commissioner from 2012-15 and a Director of the London Marathon from 2005-11.
Paedophile bishop and a cover-up by the Church lasting 23 years: Scandal deepens
24 February 2016
Peter Ball – who was eventually jailed after admitting the abuse last year – benefited from a ‘deeply sinister cover-up’.
Secret documents claimed that he had been let off 23 years ago to ‘prevent a scandal in the press’ – despite the Church of England being told he was a serial abuser. Ball resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993, but returned to work within two years.
The report was compiled at the time by a private detective working for Ball’s legal team. It warned senior figures that Ball had been ‘abusing not only his office but many young men’ and had confessed to his behaviour.
Its existence was reported by the BBC and it was described as being for the information solely of the Bishop of Chichester, the late Eric Kemp, and the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey.
The documents also indicate the private investigator frequently got to his victims before police did. They also made it clear that Ball had confessed to abusing boys.
However the documents alleged the bishop was let off with only a caution after his lawyers spoke with a ‘sympathetic’ police officer, Wayne Murdock. He returned to work within two years and moved to the Bath and Wells diocese until 2010.
Now details have emerged for the first time of a secret report by a private detective to help Ball’s defence.
According to the BBC, the documents showed that Mr Murdock had discussed with Ball’s legal team ‘the need to prevent a scandal, especially as Peter was a frequent visitor to Sandringham and is friendly with Prince Charles’.
A source, who has seen some of the secret documents, told the Daily Mail: ‘After Ball was arrested the Church hired a private detective to aide his defence.
Prosecutors have already conceded that the decision not to prosecute Ball in 1993 was ‘wrong’ as there was enough evidence to bring charges.
But it emerged that at the time of his arrest, leading Establishment figures – including two Archbishops of Canterbury, Tory MPs, a senior judge and public school headmasters – mounted an extraordinary campaign to protect hi
In 1993, Ball resigned in disgrace after receiving a police caution for committing an act of ‘gross indecency’
“Evil bishop drove me to suicide”- this Telegraph article about his abuse was published in Mar 1993
Ball escaped with a police caution despite statements from other young men who claimed to have suffered at his hands and Prince Charles provided Ball with a grace- and-favour mansion on his Duchy of Cornwall estate in Somerset.
The mother of one of Ball’s victim’s said: “This is quite unbelievable. I don’t know what Prince Charles thinks he is doing.
“The man ruined my son’s life and should have been locked away.
“Instead he now lives in luxury on one of the finest estates in the country.
“I don’t feel Ball was ever properly punished – but the fact that the prince has given sanctuary to this pervert is staggering.
Lord Carey told the BBC that he had placed Peter Ball on a list of priests banned from the ministry.
But Sussex police documents, released under an Freedom of Information (FOI) request, suggest Ball’s name was not included.
The documents also indicate Ball associated with other sex offenders in the clergy and that he was investigated in 2008 for being part of a suspected paedophile ring.
Peter Ball with Peter Canon Gordon Rideout, from Polegate, East Sussex, who was jailed for 10 years in May 2014. He was found guilty of 36 separate sex offences by a jury at Lewes Crown Court.
Canon Gordon Rideout was the vicar of All Saints Church in Eastbourne for 25 years.
Clergyman Canon Gordon Rideout was chaplain at Moira House School, Eastbourne, until 2003, and chairman of governors at Bishop Bell C of E School in Eastbourne until November 2011.
Clergyman Canon Gordon Rideout was a serial sex offender who preyed on young children across the south of England.
In 2013, Rideout, 74, was jailed for 10 years at Lewes Crown Court after being convicted of two attempted rapes and 34 indecent assaults on 16 boys and girls
In the 1970s Canon Gordon Rideout was taken to a military court on child sex-abuse charges.
At that time Rideout was chaplain on a military base.
Peter Ball was in regular contact with Vicar Roy Cotton, a convicted paedophile priest. Cotton took children to visit Ball.
2011 Baroness Butler-Sloss was appointed by the Diocese of Chichester to carry out the review which looked into the behaviour of Cotton and another paedophile priest, Colin Pritchard.
Bishop turned ‘blind eye’ to Bexhill vicar’s abuse, inquiry hears
06 March 2018
A damning image of ‘wilful blindness’ in historic cases of sexual abuse of children who were ‘terrified and silenced’ by clergy in Sussex has been set out at a public inquiry. Fiona Scolding QC, lead counsel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), said yesterday that abuse that left an ‘indelible scar’ on children was often ignored or forgiven.
In one segment, Miss Scolding described abuse by a Reverend Colin Pritchard, former vicar of St Barnabas’ Church in Bexhill and a church in Sedlescombe. She said: “There have been suggestions about the culture of abuse operated by Reverend Pritchard and that Bishop Peter Ball turned a blind eye to that abuse.” Pritchard was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of sexual offences, and again in 2007. Miss Scolding said: “There were no restrictions upon his ability to attend church or be involved in ministry with children from his arrest until July 2007.
Reverend Pritchard, who was vicar of St Barnabas in Bexhill, pleaded guilty in 2008 to seven counts of sexual assault on two boys and was jailed for five years. Pritchard – now known as Ifor Whittaker – was convicted last month of sex offences against a boy and jailed for 16 years. The crimes were when he worked in Sedlescombe, police said. Speaking on behalf of the Diocese of Chichester and Archbishops’ Council for the Church of England, Nigel Giffin QC said the Church’s response to abuse in the last few decades was ‘not nearly good enough’. The IICSA inquiry will look into how far institutions failed to protect children from sexual abuse within the Anglican Church. It focuses on abuse within the Diocese of Chichester, which covers all of Sussex, as a case study. Miss Scolding said: “As a society we have over the past 10 years had to examine some uncomfortable truths about our wilful blindness to such abuse.” Richard Scorer, speaking on behalf of many of the victims, said: “The Church of England claims to offer moral guidance to the country yet clerical sexual abuse cases powerfully undermine the claim. This leads to the cover-up of abuse. “The question is whether the Church can be trusted to put its own house in order.” In a statement, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “The failures that we have seen are deeply shaming and I personally find them a cause of horror and sadness. “That children have been abused within the communities of the church is indeed shameful.” The inquiry continues.
Former Sussex priest jailed for sex abuse against boy
Feb 22 2018
Ifor Whittaker was previously known as Colin Pritchard
A “disgusting and despicable” ex-Anglican priest has been jailed for sexually abusing a boy and conspiring with another priest to abuse the child.
Ifor Whittaker, formerly Colin Pritchard, was convicted of abusing the boy, aged between 10 and 16 when the abuse happened in the 1980s and 1990s.
The 73-year-old also conspired with ex-clergyman Roy Cotton, who has since died, to commit sex acts.
Whittaker, of Rectory Road, Sutton, south London, was jailed for 16 years.
He was told he will serve a minimum of 10 years in prison. He is already a registered sex offender for life after a previous conviction.
Sentencing Whittaker, Judge Paul Tain described the priest’s behaviour as “disgraceful, disgusting and despicable”,
He said: “It was an obvious and clear case of grooming, where he carefully manipulated a vulnerable child.”
Whittaker had “attempted to bamboozle, cheat and mislead the jury”, the judge said.
He said the abuser had “plied the victim with alcohol” and “emotionally blackmailed the boy by saying ‘no one would believe you over a priest'”.
The boy had been invited by Whittaker to do gardening work at the church
Whittaker, a former rector of Sedlescombe, near Battle, was convicted of seven counts, which also included gross indecency and inciting the boy to commit gross indecency.
The offences took place between February 1987 and February 1993 in East Sussex, Hove Crown Court was told.
The jury was told Whittaker was a “predatory paedophile” and had organised and facilitated the abuse with Cotton, who worked as a priest in Brede, near Rye, in the 1990s.
He died in 2006 and was never prosecuted.
The victim, now in his 40s, told the court Cotton had been the main abuser and had “just passed me over like a toy to be borrowed by a friend”.
‘Quite forceful’
The court heard the abuse began after he was invited to do gardening work at the church by Whittaker in return for pocket money.
Whittaker and Cotton “had an agreement” and Cotton would often take the boy to and from Whittaker’s house, it was said.
There were also occasions at Cotton’s house when, after abuse had taken place, Whittaker would “suddenly immediately appear in the room as if he had been watching”, the jury heard.
Whittaker’s victim described him as “quite forceful, quite scary”.
The jury was told Whittaker had previously pleaded guilty to gross indecency and indecent assault in 2008 over offences which had take place in Wellingborough in Northamptonshire against teenage boys in the 1980s.
The diocese apologised “unreservedly” after Baroness Butler-Sloss’s report criticised both senior clergy and Sussex Police over how they dealt with historical claims of abuse by Cotton and the then Colin Pritchard.
Following Whittaker’s latest conviction, the Diocese of Chichester issued a statement saying: “We express our profound sorrow and regret to the victim in this case and our admiration for their courage and determination in coming forward.
“The abuse of children is both a travesty and a tragedy and a complete betrayal of the Christian faith.
“This case demonstrates once again why it is so important to listen to those reporting abuse.”
THE former Bishop of Blackburn has been criticised in an inquiry report into child sexual abuse in his former diocese.
The Right Rev Nicholas Reade, the Bishop of Blackburn from 2004 to 2012, has been held to account by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse over his time as Archdeacon of Lewes, in the Diocese of Chichester.
The Rev Robert Coles admitted the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage altar server in the 1980s to Bishop Nicholas and a fellow clergyman, the inquiry was told.
But despite Coles confessing to sexual activity with the 15 or 16-year-old boy at his home, neither Bishop Nicholas nor his colleague disclosed this information to police, following the former’s arrest in 1997.
Coles, who was a parish priest across the southern diocese, faced no criminal action at the time.
But an investigation was relaunched in 2012 and he was later convicted on two separate occasions of serious sexual offences involving young boys and given substantial jail sentences.
Referring to the 1997 disclosures, Prof Alexis Jay, the inquiry’s chairman, said in a final report: “Archdeacon Reade declined to report a serious indecent to the police, yet repeatedly sought to justify this failure on the basis that ‘he had not raped the boy’.
“Coles should have been reported to the police and subject to disciplinary action or a risk assessment.”
The inquiry heard that Coles sexually groomed a child in 2007-08. He was officially retired but still continued to officiate.
Mr Reade was also found to have defended another minister, Rev Roy Cotton, who had a past conviction for indecent exposure involving a boy in a church organ loft in the 1950s.
Cotton, an ‘Anglo-Catholic’ was supposed to only be allowed to celebrate Mass at his retirement home but officiated in public several times when children were present, the inquiry report disclosed.
He was investigated twice over allegations that he abused boys in the 70s and 80s, with another disgraced minister. Three victims came forward to make accusations. No criminal action was taken but Sussex Police’s inquiry was found to be ‘inadequate’. Cotton, who was the subject of later church and judicial inquiries, died in September 2006.
Prof Jay, referring to Cotton’s case, added: “This was a clear example of the diocese failing to prioritise its responsibilities for children and young people.
“Its concerns seem to have been led by pastoral concerns for Cotton, rather than the danger he posed to children.”
The current Bishop of Blackburn, the Right Rev Julian Henderson, this week wrote to all clergy in the diocese, calling on them to learn lessons from the inquiry’s findings.
Mr Reade was Archdeacon of Lewes before being appointed Bishop of Blackburn in 2004. He retired in 2012.
The child sex abuse inquiry was prompted by revelations that no fewer than 20 individuals with connections to Chichester Diocese had been convicted of sexual offending against children, including Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and later Bishop of Gloucester, over the past 50 years.
In her findings, Prof Jay said: “The Church must take action to ensure that this catalogue of errors does not occur again.”
The police investigated allegations of sexual offences by Ball against 19 young men and boys, in East Sussex and elsewhere between the 1970s and the early 1980s.
Vincent S. aged 10 yrs, from Grafton Children’s Home, was taken to Elm Guest House and to a house in Bexhill, in East Sussex.
John Stingemore lived in Bexhill in East Sussex.
John Stingemore was deputy head of Grafton Close children’s home
John Stingemore at the trial of Peter Sutcliffe..linked to Savile..linked to McSweeney…
Sussex Police received a complaint about a sexual assault by Sir Jimmy Savile in Worthing in Sussex.
Nicholas Rabet ran a children’s activity centre in Sussex.
He lived at Cross-in-Hand, near Heathfield, for five years before moving to Asia, and was suspected of having had sex with up to 300 underage boys.
Adrian Johns, former resident of Bryn Alyn children’s home, died in a 1992 fire aged 32 in Brighton, East Sussex. Verdict – unlawful killing
Peter Bick lived in Bexhill in East Sussex.
On 23 April 2012, a former altar boy, Christopher Hunnisett, 28, appeared in court accused of murdering Peter Bick, 57, as part of a campaign of hate against paedophiles.
Bick is believed to have been a friend of Prince Philip. Bick shared a love of carriage racing with Prince Philip.
Police found Peter Bick, 57, dead in his flat on January 11 201.
Hunnisett, alleged that he was abused by Rev Ronald Glazebrook, above.
2001
The Oxford-educated cleric, who was a headmaster at schools in Pakistan and Zimbabwe before returning to Britain to become the warden at an East End drop-in centre, retired to the Sussex resort almost 20 years ago.
Many knew him through Christ Church in St Leonards-on-Sea.
2005 The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles
Lambeth Palace was warned that Peter Ball, a close friend of Prince Charles and who attended his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005, was a serial abuser of boys and young men shortly before he resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993.
Ball resigned as Bishop of Gloucester following the caution and a short time later Prince Charles invited him to live in a lodge house owned by the Duchy of Cornwall in Aller, Somerset.
He described the Prince of Wales at the time as ‘a loyal friend’.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey wrote to police in 1993 with letters of support for the then Bishop of Gloucester Peter Ball who was being investigated for sex offences
1993 Rt Rev Michael Ball and twin Brother Rt Rev Peter Ball – Church House – Westminster
In one of Lord Carey’s letters he told police it was “improbable” that Peter Ball was guilty.
The Old Bailey was told a member of the Royal Family and other establishment figures backed Ball while he tried to avoid charges of sexually abusing young aspiring priests in the early 1990s.
He courted a niece of Sir Anthony Eden (former prime minister)
Peter Ball was governor of Radley, Wellington and Lancing
2 March 1977
The Queen has appointed a monk as – Church of England bishop for only the third time in living memory…Father Peter Ball. The two other modern monk-bishops have been the late Rt Rev Walter Frere, Bishop of Truro, 1923-35 and the Rt Rev Trevor Huddleston, the present Bishop of Stepney
Truthseeker1@thewakeupcall09
Bishop Peter Ball, Tom Driberg & Trevor Huddleston all went to Lancing College and are all paedophiles.
Some of Peter Ball’s “schemers” were sent to work with the Community in Uruguay
Neil Todd, the teenage aspirant monk who was sexually abused by Ball, said bishop Ball told him that ‘the Prince had written him personal letters. He didn’t say what was in them …Then he told me they were in his safe and added: “One day they will be very valuable.”’
Peter Ball and Jimmy Savile were close and visited Prince Charles at Highgrove often.
Staff at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales’s country home, had grown accustomed to these intimate exchanges when the Rt Rev Peter Ball, the now disgraced Bishop of Gloucester, came to offer solace and enlightenment to their boss.
Prince Charles has a strange temple at Highgrove.
During his time in Lewes, Peter Ball got to know Jimmy Savile well.
This York Student Television project from 1992 makes clear reference to Jimmy Savile’s paedophile tendencies. The source description says it originates from 2nd February 2011 but the end credits twice state clearly 1992. It seems to attempt to shy away from literal sodomy on Savile’s part but there are clear and unambiguous sexual references including a direct allegation of paedophilia.
Description
Jim’ll Sodomise You was a one-off short spoof of Jim’ll Fix It. It features David Bartlett wearing a tracksuit and glitzy wig and covered in bling, doing a not-bad impression of Jimmy Saville.
The idea being that Jim in this case would not fix it, and would thereby sodomise your ambitions (rather than literally sodomise you).
Bishop Peter Ball and Jimmy Savile were close and visited Prince Charles at Highgrove often.
Peter Ball was propelled into the royal circle by two people… One was prebendary Willie Booth, a former chaplain at Westminster School,the other was Jimmy Savile.
Jimmy Savile committed a number of sex offences in Sussex at the time when Ball was bishop
After his appointment to Gloucester was announced, Ball became a regular visitor to Highgrove and was held in such high regard that Charles attended his enthronement.
Ball dined with Thatcher at the Savoy and Margaret Thatcher’s former Chief Whip Tim Renton MP said any criminal action against Ball was “far too great a punishment”. link
Peter Ball saw a good deal of the Norfolks and Abergravennys, and
Peter Ball was a friend of Lord John Wakeham and Sir Ian Gow.
MINISTER BEDDED JUDGE’S WIFE AND DAUGHTERS (Underage) News of the World 1994
Alan Clark MP who was involved in a scandal with two 14 yr old girls –
Clark was involved in a sex scandal with a woman and her daughters — ‘the coven’
The Trouble with BBC ‘Children in Need’ Ambassador Max Clifford and Tory MP Alan Clark
In the leaked video Clifford, the legendary PR Guru to the stars and elites let slip that he had successfully hid away the sins of one Tory MP, and ‘diarist’, Alan Clark.
was the first Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex from 1974 to 1989. Lord Hampden, Anthony David Brand was Deputy Lord-Lieutenant for East Sussex from 1986 until 2000
Lord Hampden, Anthony David Brand and Peter Ball, were involved in the 1986 Derry Mainwaring Knight Satanist trial
Anthony John Leslie Lloyd, Baron Lloyd of Berwick (left)
He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of East Sussex in 1983.
Anthony Lloyd, who was a Lord Justice at the time, wrote a letter of support for Peter Ball and described Ball as a “saint” in one of more than 2,000 letters sent to the Crown Prosecution Service and Gloucestershire Police in his support from acquaintances.
In 1969 Lloyd was appointed Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales, serving until 1977.
1984 – made a Privy Counsellor
Camilla’s father Bruce Shand – was a Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex, and Vice-Lieutenant of East Sussex from 1974 until 1992.
Peter Ball preached at Bruce Shand’s funeral
Lord Wakeham, center with Prince Philip
Lord Wakeham aka “Lord Fix-It” He tried to protect the rich and the famous from intrusions into their privacy
Director, NM Rothschild & Sons 1995
He was a director of Enron (close ties with George Bush) from 1994 until its bankruptcy in 2001.
As a non-executive director and a member of Enron’s auditing committee, paid a reported £80,000 a year, Lord Wakeham was meant to ensure that the company’s accountants were happy with the way that it was reporting to Wall Street.
It was in another role, as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission from which he stepped down last week, that Lord Wakeham was able to show his prowess as a fixer, defusing the continuing battles between the tabloids and Buckingham Palace, placing a restraining hand on editors here, holding back politicians there from legislation to impose new privacy laws on the press.
Peter Ball spent hours comforting Lord Wakeham after his wife was killed in the 1984 Brighton bombing and was a staunch friend to Jane Gow when her husband was murdered by the Ira.
The Rt Rev Peter Ball, the Bishop of Lewes, blesses a plaque in memory of those who died in the Grand Hotel bombing of 1984, at St Paul’s Church in Brighton. He is watched by Prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Sir Donald Maclean, left, and MP John Wakeham, who both lost their wives in the IRA blast.
1st August 1990 – Mrs Jane Gow stands with her two sons James, right, Charles and The Rt Rev Peter Ball, the Bishop of Lewes, at the spot her husband, Conservative politician Ian Gow, died when his car was blown up by the IRA at their home in Hankham.
Ian Gow was PPS to Margaret Thatcher 1979-83.
He was deeply involved in the workings of Thatcher’s private office.
Gow was killed by a car bomb attack in 1990 . Irish republican paramilitaries claimed responsibility in both cases, butnobody was ever charged with causing the deaths andrumours later circulated concerning possible involvement of the CIA and intelligence community
Ian Gow was very close to Margaret Thatcher. And Peter Morrison
He made an offer to the black MP, Paul Boateng: “He must visit me in my home in Sussex, The Doghouse, where I shall be delighted to receive him, despite his unwise views. And I shall offer him one, perhaps more than one, White Lady.”
Soon after becoming prime minister, Thatcher writes to Ball …she was “deeply grateful”
1979 May 17 Th
Archive (Thatcher MSS)
MT: MT letter to Suffragan Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball (thanks for letter) [“Letters like yours are a great source of strength”] [released 2010]
Peter Ball was on close terms with the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, and was invited to preach at Sandringham.
Even the Queen supported him after his police caution. In 1994, when she was distributing Royal Maundy money in Truro, Ball was there with his brother, who was Truro’s bishop.
After lunch in the Chapter House, the Queen, who had been on the high table with local dignitaries, went across to Ball, held out her hand and said in the clearest of voices: ‘My love and encouragement, Bishop.’
The Rev John Robson, chaplain to the Queen was a friend of pervert Bishop Ball
The Rev John Robson, chaplain of the Savoy Chapel
1992
The lasting image I retained
from the service was that evoked by
the chaplain in his sermon. Mr
Robson is a friend of the Bishop of
Gloucester, the Right Rev Peter
BaH who has preached at the
Savoy Chapel Bishop Ball was the
only bishop to abstain during the
televised debate on women priests,
said Mr Robson: “He pulled his
monk’s cow} over his head and sat
in deep, profound and tortured
prayer.”
https://archive.org/stream/NewsUK1992UKEnglish/Dec%2005%201992%2C%20The%20Times%2C%20%2364506%2C%20UK%20%28en%29_djvu.txt
Queen’s chaplain, RevJohn Robson, friend of Peter Ball was a chaplain at Christ’s Hospital School:
From the Worshipful Company of Gardeners Autumn 2017 Issue 42
Judge Christine Henson said Karim displayed a “complete disregard” and “continued arrogance” towards his victims, adding: “I’m in no doubt that you used your popularity as a teacher to groom your victims.
“They should have been safe and secure, sadly they were not.
“You have betrayed everything a teacher should stand for.”
He left the school after complaints from four pupils surfaced between 1990 and 1993.
Senior staff came under fire from victims over the way they handled the allegations.
Teachers never reported him to the police and he was initially allowed to carry on working, even with the girls in question.
‘Hugely traumatic’
Reading a victim’s statement, Oliver Dunkin, prosecuting, said the victim was “deeply disappointed” with the school’s handling of the incidents, which made it “hugely traumatic”.
“For 32 years I have lived with the deeply buried memory of events that took place with Mr Karim,” the statement read.
“Until recently I believed the impact had been minimal and I got on and lived my life.”
An NSPCC spokeswoman said Karim displayed a “shocking breach of trust”.
She added: “We hope today’s sentencing provides some sort of closure for those cruelly targeted by Karim.”
Karim was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.
WALES: Ex-N.Wales Teacher Denies Sex Assaults; ‘Drunken Party Led to Offences against 4 Teen Boys’
Daily Post (Liverpool, England), October 24, 2008
Byline: By CARL BUTLER
A FORMER North Wales teacher has denied sexual assaults against four teen age boys after a drunken Christmas party.
Robert Charles Durrant – who is on trial in Dorset – spent four years at the Rydal Penrhos School in Colwyn Bay, before he moved to Ruthin School where he spent the next 16 years. He also taught on the Wirral.
Durrant, 60, who got married while teaching at Ruthin, is an English teacher at Milton Abbey School, Dorset, and has denied eight charges that are all alleged to have happened after a drunken Christ mas party at Milton Abbey School on December 6.
He faces six charges of sexually as saulting four teenage boys and two fur ther charges of battery that evening.
Dorchester Crown Court heard yester day Durrant targeted a ‘shy and isolated pupil’ after an alleged night-time assault in the Dorset private school.
Durrant, of Milton Abbas, Blandford, told jurors at Dorchester Crown Court he was very friendly with many of the boys he taught and he would often hug them and give them massages in a friendly way.
Earlier in the trial a schoolboy in his late teens said Durrant came into his room after midnight and touched his leg and tried to kiss him.
Another said Durrant had come into his room and kissed him on the arm and chest.
One boy said Durrant came into his room and put his hands down his trousers.
The final sexual assault was alleged by another boy in his late teens who said Durrant touched his backside twice that evening.
He denies any accusation he touched any of the boys in a sexual manner and said he has little recollection of that evening.
The jury heard after a schoolboy had burst into the room where Durrant was with another pupil, Durrant followed him angrily into his room.
He denies grabbing one boy around the neck but said he did shout at him and the boy reacted by threatening him that he would make up accusations about having his arm twisted by Durrant.
Durrant told the jury he had been drinking wine all evening and he and the other pupils were drunk.
Durrant said after sitting and talking to a schoolboy for a few hours he then hugged him and left and walked around the school stopping at different rooms.
He then admitted he drove two miles home to his house.
Prosecutor Robert Griffiths accused Durrant of targeting one of the school boys because he was a shy and isolated boy.
Mr Durrant replied he resented the accusation.
Mr Griffiths added: “I am going to suggest that over the years you may have got the odd grope off these boys but on that night you went far beyond that.”
When asked in a police interview about his sexuality Durrant said: “I am heterosexual with a hint of bisexual.”
Durrant clarified in court he had ex perimented sexually with other boys when he was at school himself.
The court heard Durrant has been a teacher since 1971 and had previously taught at the Calday Grange School in Wirral and the Christ’s Hospital School in Sussex before moving to Wales.
There he spent four years at the Rydal Penrhos School in Colwyn Bay before he moved to Ruthin School and spent the next 16 years there and got married.
Durrant then left this school, divorced his wife and moved to teach in Zimbab we and then Kuwait before taking the post at Milton Abbey School in 2003.
He now lives alone and is currently suspended from the school, the court heard.
The trial continues.
carlbutler@dailypost.co.uk
CAPTION(S):
Robert Durrant faces charges of sexual assault on four teenage boys
ks wrote:George Bell was certainly a very charismatic as well as a theologically sound Bishop, and his work is still recognised. He took office as Bishop of Chichester in 1929 and (I think) died in post in 1958.
I THINK he had retired when he died, but only very shortly before. Of course it was 1958, in fact the 50th anniversary of his death was last week (sorry about that mistake further up). His CH Leaving Bible was presented to him in the spring of 1958, on the day after he carried out Confirmations at CH for the last time.
As for chaplains, an interesting part was played by John Robson, who might be considered the first “modern” chaplain of CH. As assistant chaplain he introduced things like holy communion in houses. But his other contribution to CH was the mutual introduction of the school and his lifelong friend the then Dean of Westminster, Eric Abbott. This was a piece of social climbing on the school’s part which it exploited for all it was worth.
by CZ » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:55 pm
I went to Eric Symes Abbott’s memorial service as SG. John Robson was a great guy and in my time it was the great trio of Robson, Atkinson and for a while Godfrey Hall. Porteous came in in my last year.
House Communions were great as were Confirmation lessons in Robbos house.
Does anyone remember the fantastic colorful garments the chaplains wore in the 80s and maybe beyond? It was always a treat to see what garb John Robson would be wearing on the Sunday evening service. Ian Atkinson was always dressed in a monk like white …it did look a bit like a Klu Klux Klan garb.
Robson followed Newsome to Wellington…
George Bell also at Christ’s Hospital School – carrying out confirmations
His CH Leaving Bible was presented to him in the spring of 1958, on the day after he carried out Confirmations at CH for the last time.
George Bell was ‘fond’ of paeodophile bishop Peter Ball and sponsored him for ordination, an inquiry has heard.
As former bishop of Chichester, Bell is considered one of Anglicanism’s heroes. However, it emerged in 2015 the Church of England paid £16,800 to the woman, known as Carol, in a legal settlement after she accused Bell of sexually abusing her as a child.
Now it can be revealed Peter Ball, who was jailed for a string of sex offences against teenagers and young men in 2015, was close friends with Bell.
Princess Margaret would take communion at The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, just by the Savoy Hotel.
It was noted how she would always attend before flying off to Mustique
Mr Robson remembers her infectious laughter and wit but has no illusions as to how fearsome the Princess could be with a cutting remark. I am thankful to say I have never been on the receiving end of that aspect to her character,” he said. “Like all of us, she had a dark side – that was part of her attraction.
Charles, meanwhile, must surely have been advised to keep Ball at arm’s length — just as he had been advised to distance himself from Jimmy Savile.
‘The Prince did receive letters from the public complaining about Savile,’ says a senior aide. ‘But the writers were dismissed [by him] as jealous or mad.’
Neil Todd, the teenage aspirant monk who was sexually abused by Ball, said bishop Ball told him that ‘the Prince had written him personal letters. He didn’t say what was in them …Then he told me they were in his safe and added: “One day they will be very valuable.”’
Todd also said: ‘We knew that Bishop Peter and the Prince were good friends. He didn’t refer to him as Prince Charles. He would always say just Charles.’
Files obtained by the BBC indicate Lambeth Palace received six letters detailing indecency allegations shortly after an arrest in 1992.
Ball was cautioned but worked in churches and schools for 15 more years.
Richard Scorer, a lawyer at Slater and Gordon, said: “It’s an absolute scandal. It is wrong and unacceptable that the Church of England sat on the information and didn’t pass it to the police.
“There is no question Peter Ball would have been prosecuted, convicted and jailed for child abuse at that time.”
The Church of England has declined to comment.
Ball was Bishop of Lewes between 1977 and 1992 and Bishop of Gloucester from 1992 until his resignation the following year
The police files also suggest Ball covered for and helped other priests accused of sex abuse, including:
In 1978, Ball failed to take appropriate action against a priest who abused a child and went on to abuse others. In 1985, Ball let a priest who had abused a 14-year-old boy stay in his home after his release from prison, and provided the abuser with a positive report enabling him to return to work. In 2009, Ball tried to persuade a teenage boy to apologise to a priest who had allegedly abused him.
These files give a further insight into how the church handled Ball’s case. It seems the Diocese of Chichester did not share documents which could have jailed Ball earlier.
There is no explanation about how he was able to gain a clear Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, so he could continue working in the church.
The documents reveal Bishop Peter Ball considered asking the home secretary to overturn his caution in the 1990s.
They also detail the “limited disciplinary action” taken by the-then Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey in relation to Ball and “his return to ministry”.
In February, it was announced Dame Moira Gibb was chairing an independent review of the Ball case to consider what information was available to the Church of England, who had it and when.
A month later, Justice Lowell Goddard’s inquiry into historical child sex abuse announced it would consider whether there was interference by the Church in the Peter Ball case.
Lord Carey’s spokesman, his son Andrew, declined to comment on the new claims but said: “Lord Carey is working with and cooperating fully with two ongoing enquiries – Dame Moira Gibb’s review and the Goddard Enquiry”.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey wrote to police in 1993 with letters of support for the then Bishop of Gloucester who was being investigated for sex offences, it can be revealed. Ex-archbishop George Carey said Peter Ball was in “torment” as a result of a police investigation, letters released by the Crown Prosecution Service show. Ball, 83, was jailed in October for a string of offences against young men. The Church of England apologised “unreservedly” to Ball’s victims. He was sentenced to 32 months for misconduct in a public office and 15 months for indecent assaults, to run concurrently.
In one of Lord Carey’s letters he told police it was “improbable” he was guilty. He also wrote in a letter to Barbara Mills – then the director of public prosecutions – that Ball’s health was fragile and the decision to prosecute should be made “as speedily as possible”. The letters have been released by the CPS in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by the BBC and others, after it emerged that personal letters had been written which were supportive of Ball. Ball was eventually told he would not be prosecuted but received a caution instead. He resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993, a position that followed a previous period as Bishop of Lewes. However in October 2015, following repeated claims of a church cover-up, Mr Ball pleaded guilty to abusing 18 young men in the 70s, 80s and 90s. He was jailed for two years and ten months.
One of his victims was Neil Todd, whose attempts to take his own life triggered the police investigation 1993 which prompted hundreds of letters of support for the Bishop. In his two letters Lord Carey said he had no wish to influence the legal process. He makes no reference to the allegations of sexual abuse or Mr Todd, who finally took his own life at the end of 2012.
Throughout the years, Prince Charles and Peter Ball would pray together in the Sanctuary – a Harry Potteresque temple built by Prince Charles deep in a glade in Highgrove’s grounds.
09 Sept 2007 The Tampa Tribune
Bishop of London Richard Chartres was invited to consecrate it in 2000
There are stain glass windows dedicated to poet Ted Hughes* and and another mentor of Prince Charles – writer Sir Laurens van der Post*
Bishop of Lewes, Ball, of Langport, Somerset, had hand-picked vulnerable victims to commit acts of “debasement” in the name of religion, such as praying naked at the altar and encouraging them to submit to beatings, a court at the Old Bailey heard.
...when night falls here on Dartmoor, that last great wilderness of southern England, some visitors clearly have a sinister purpose.
In recent weeks a series of satanic ceremonies have taken place on the vast 69,000-acre Dartmoor estate owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, the royal Trust which pays Prince Charles his £14 million annual income.
Sheep have been sadistically slaughtered; necks broken; eyes, tongues and sex organs often gouged or cut out. It is possible some were still alive as the mutilations took place.
Police have reports of a crude stone altar, possibly bloodstained, next to a wooden stake and a roughly-built den has been found near the scene of an attack.
On one occasion sheep carcasses were laid in the shape of a seven-pointed star, a symbol closely linked to the notorious Victorian occultist Aleister Crowley, once described as ‘the wickedest man in the world’.
More recently the animals have been left in lines, their heads grotesquely twisted as though looking back through nearby gates or field entrances.
Most bizarrely of all, these sacrificial rituals appear to be triggered by phases of the moon.
Duchy officials are aware of the livestock attacks but insist there is no evidence that the organisation is itself being targeted – even though Prince Charles is the future head of the Church of England.
Almost all the rituals have occurred three miles west of Princetown between Sampford Spiney, Merrivale, and the picturesque market town of Tavistock, Devon.
The area includes one of Dartmoor’s most important Bronze Age sites – the Merrivale stone circle and ritual complex – which local folklore describes as the ‘Gateway of the Dead’.
Other legends mention a sadistic witch called Vixiana who lived on Vixen Tor – one of Dartmoor’s best known granite outcrops. She is said to have conjured up dense fogs to lure travellers off the old trans-moor path between Tavistock and Princetown and into a deep bog.
Another favourite of the princes was The Horses, a poem about 10 greys “megalith-still” in “the hour-before-dawn dark”. The recitals took place mainly at Highgrove, the Gloucestershire home of the Prince of Wales, in the early 1990s before William and Harry entered their teens. Hughes also read to Prince Charles and the Queen Mother, to whom he was close.
Details of the private readings have been recounted by Roy Davids, former head of the books department at Sotheby’s auction house, who knew Hughes well in the last 20 years of the poet’s life.
“Ted’s relationship with the royals was much closer than anybody has so far known.
Even more astonishing than his story was the fact that he managed to persuade a group of pious Anglican churchmen and landed gentry in East Sussex to underwrite his struggle with cash.The money was needed, he confided, both to free him from debts that bound him to the Devil and to buy various objects of Satanic regaliaenabling him to gain control of the cult.
In order to allay the suspicions of Lord Whitelaw and others he also needed a Rolls-Royce with a telephone since the Satanists had his other phones tapped.
The parish priest in the village of Newick, the Rev. John Baker, organized a donors’ group to back Mr. Knight in his struggle and mobilized the support, among others, of Viscount Hampden, Viscount Brentford, the Earl of March and Mrs. Susan Sainsbury, the wife of a Conservative Member of Parliament.
Knight claimed that he financed his lifestyle from a vice-ring. He earned up to 12.000 pounds a week running a private clinic which turned prostitutes into “bona fide” virgins.
May 4, 1986
Derry Knight told an astonishing story about his membership in a secret Satanic cult called the Sons of Lucifer and his heroic efforts to take over the leadership of the cult to free himself and 2,000 members from the coils of the Devil.
As he told it, it was an incredibly dangerous mortal struggle he was waging against the most evil forces in the universe, personified by some prominent politicians, including Viscount Whitelaw, the deputy Prime Minister, who were, he said, the secret masters of Britain’s Satanic orders.
Their efforts won the support of the Anglican Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball, a member of a small monastic order who shuns ecclesiastical vestments and worships in a converted pigsty.
Would this by any chance explain why Baker/Ball turned to Sue Sainsbury for a donation for Mainwaring Knight? Sainsbury – Gatsby – BASW – Peter Righton …
‘Men Who Are Attracted to 13-Year-Old Boys Make the Best Teachers’ – Director of Kent Social Services ’74-’85
“It’s terribly sad when you’re sexually orientated towards children,” he said, while defending a Canadian child sex offender who was a church organist.
Stacey describes how he frightened the other Directors of Social Services because he was “a different beast.” But his tone becomes almost sinister when talking of rules he set down with his six thousand member staff about dealing with accusations of abuse. “Nobody was to go to the police about accusations against staff without my approval. And it is incredible the way times have changed. I could never begin to do that now. But children, especially children in care, are incredibly manipulative.” Nicolas Stacey should never have been director of Kent social services.
Children were physically pinned down in Kendall House, drugged with excessive doses of controversial medications, beaten regularly, mentally abused, sexually abused, and in some cases raped. Nicolas Stacey states, “I never once went to the police. This was because I never felt that we had a serious case and never in the eleven years I was there did a scandal occur. I mean no scandal that I know of, or none that got out in the public.” Louise Brodie cuts in on the recording and asks Stacey, “No scandal about your staff?” Stacey replies, “About my staff. Now what I did do, I said ‘Look, I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to resign. I am going to have you put on the register of “at risk”.’” A clear admission by Rev. Nick Stacey that he had covered up abuse whilst head of the Kent Social Services. This was Stacey’s “Frost-Nixon” moment. “I would try and get them to go to counselling, had it emerged, you know, that… rampant abuse of kids had occurred, you know.”
Nick Stacey openly admitted on tape that there were cases of abuse, but that he had not informed the police, and instead offered voluntary counselling to the abuser. No mention of the abused at all. But the shock confessions don’t stop there. Stacey went on to say, “A member of staff once hit a child very hard and we had to go to the police. But I went into the dock. I got one of the best QCs. In fact, he was a son of Canon John Collins, you would know from your South African experience. And I went to court and spoke. I said you’ve got no idea how these children wind care staff up. You know, we sit comfortably at our home, we expect care staff with small pay to look after some of the most admittedly tragically deprived. It’s not their fault that they wind people up, and they’re aggressive. Once somebody loses their cool and they do hit somebody then, you know, you say they should be locked up. And I got them off.” Stacey seemed to be very focused on his staff and never on the service users in his care. How many other cases of abuse did he cover-up?
What’s clear from listening to the seven hours of interviews, is that Nicolas Stacey was very much a part of the establishment. Rev. Stacey admitted to hiding cases of abuse while he was responsible for the safety of the children in care homes around Kent. This admission should be enough to deserve a public inquiry into Kent Social Services during his reign as well as the Kent Police force’s response to the recorded confessions.
Peter Righton was of a close associate of Nick Stacey, a man of God, who played a central role in the protection of paedophiles. As Director of Social Services, he instructed his staff not to report alleged paedophiles within Kent Social Services.
Social worker, Tony Graham, jailed for sexual acts with under-age girls. The Rev Nick Stacey, a former director of Kent social services, said that he had appointed Graham in 1982
On the face of it, the Gatsby Project, a distance learning project for residential child care workers, was a good thing – except that it was carried out with Peter Righton, who was an active member of PIE and was convicted of possessing child abuse images in the early 90s
LazerLight @Lazer_Light23
Bloody Hell, this is all making sense now. Social Work Today’s Margaret Jervis, who went on to become a legal adviser for the ‘False Memory Syndrome Society’. No wonder the animosity.
The role of Rev. Nicholas Stacey and his associates (incl. Claire Jervis) should be subjected to greater scrutiny.
Nick Stacey, a man of God, plays a central role in the protection of paedophiles. Later a Director of Social Services, he instructed his staff not to report alleged paedophiles within Kent Social Services.
Righton and Stacey
Stacey, formerly a vicar, was very close to Peter Righton, and was based in Maidstone, where Righton also lived for a time. They cemented their friendship via Social Work Today and were on a steering committee together, training those working with disturbed young people.
Just to show how close Righton and Stacey were, here they are on the same committee. Note also: John Rea Price of Islington
Also in this group were John Rea Price, Director of Islington for 19 years while every one of its kids’ homes was run by paedophiles. When Liz Davies blew the whistle on Islington, the coward Rea Price quickly legged it to become CEO of NCB, also based in Islington.
Nicholas Stacey and Claire Jervis: What is it about Islington?
Also close to Righton and Stacey was Chris Andrews, Chair of BASW and another force within SWT alongside Margaret Claire Jervis.
When Righton was arrested in 1992, Chris Andrews, who spoke for BASW, was one of the first to jump to Righton’s defence.
Read here how Andrews rushed to the defence of paedophile Peter Righton:
Chris Andrews, of BASW, described Righton at the time of his arrest as follows: He [Righton] is a highly respected figure within the residential field, particularly working with highly disturbed children. He is very much concerned with therapeutic work in child care’ (cited in Burden and Rose, ‘Porn Squad quiz Child Care Expert’).
Complimentary tickets to PIE (Paedophile Information Exchange) event from convicted paedo Tom O’Carroll to Chris Andrews of BASW, colleague of Hewson friend Claire Jervis.
It would appear that Nick Stacey turned first to the Sainsburys for funding:
The Sainsburys also backed the Tear Fund, a Christian relief organisation closely associated with Cliff Richard, a man accused of child abuse whose name appeared as a patron of the Elm Guest House child brothel.
All for the love of Vaz: The Sainsburys were also close to Keith Vaz, a man who rarely fails to get a mention in threads of mine. This time the link is Auchi, a man guilty of fraud whose extradition Vaz tried to prevent:
Cyril Smith molested boy, 11, at National Liberal Club – and introduced him to David Steel: Further embarrassment for the Lib Dems after another shocking revelation
29stone paedophile MP took schoolboy from Rochdale to London
Introduced him to party leader David Steel, molested him later at HQ
Victim, now 49, claims he was ‘suicidal’ until the age of 25 after assault
29 May 2014
A man told yesterday how he was molested as an 11-year-old by Cyril Smith in a bedroom at the National Liberal Club.
The paedophile MP took the schoolboy from his Rochdale constituency to London and introduced him to Liberal Party leader David Steel at Westminster.
Hours later, 29stone Smith sexually assaulted the boy at the club which housed the party’s headquarters.
The schoolboy’s sordid encounter with Smith took place in 1978 after his mother spotted a story in the Rochdale Observer newspaper. It said the MP had been invited to nominate a Rochdale boy from a one-parent family for a free place at public school.
She contacted Smith and was told it was Reed’s School in Cobham, Surrey, founded in 1813 as a boarding school for children who had lost one or both parents. After visiting the family, Smith took the 11-year-old by train to the capital.
Smith’s victim, who is now 47 and doesn’t want to be identified, said: ‘He sat next to me on the train. I remember he ate a massive breakfast of fried eggs and bacon.’
The MP first took the schoolboy to the Houses of Parliament where he met Mr – now Lord – Steel.
The victim recalls little of the meeting save for a brief introduction but said: ‘I remember telling all my friends at the time that I had met the leader of the Liberal Party – it was something to brag about.’
In the afternoon he travelled to Surrey to tour the school whose former pupils include Tim Henman and where current boarding fees range from £22,000 to £27,000 a year.
On returning to London he and Smith arrived at the National Liberal Club near Parliament. The Liberal Party HQ was based in offices in the building and it also provided accommodation for members.
Smith was ‘disappointed’ when told the boy had decided not to take up the Reed’s School offer. The victim finally told his mother what had happened some ten years later. ‘She was mortified,’ he said. His mother added: ‘I was terribly anguished and have been since. But Smith was extraordinarily plausible.’
Her son said: ‘If my small story can encourage other people to get in touch and flesh out the real truth here and prompt a public inquiry, then so be it.’
Job title Organisation Date Trustee Parliament Choir 2011 – Chairman CORESS 2006 – 2012 Joint Life President Reed’s School 2002 – Chairman Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth 1999 – 2007 Trustee Music at Winchester 1995 – 2006 Treasurer Florence Nightingale Art in Sickness Trust 1995 – 2006 Treasurer New England Company 1995 – 2006 Chair of Governors Reed’s School 1994 – 2002 Chairman Friends of Lambeth Palace Library 1992 – 2008 Special Trustee Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte’s Hospital Authority 1992 – 2000
ob title Organisation Date Director Guinness Mahon and Co. Ltd 1988 – 1990 Director Nestor – BNA Plc. 1988 – 2000 Partner Henderson Crosthwaite and Co., Stockbrokers 1973 – 1986 Director The Bridgeman Art Library Ltd. 1972 –
UK Parliament Committee House Date Consolidation Bills (Joint Committee) Jul 2017 – Consolidation Bills (Joint Committee) Jun 2015 – Apr 2017 EU Sub Committee F – Home Affairs, Health and Education May 2012 – Mar 2015 EU Sub-Committee G – Social Policies and Consumer Protection Oct 2011 – May 2012 Information Committee (Lords) Jun 2010 – Sep 2011 House of Lords Offices Committee Jun 2001 – Nov 2002 Standing Orders (Private Bills) Committee (Lords) Jun 1997 – May 2001 EU Sub-Committee C Nov 1993 – Apr 1997 Ecclesiastical Committee (Joint Committee) Nov 1990 – Oct 1991 Statutory Instruments (Joint Committee) Jun 1990 – Nov 1993
Category 10: Non-financial interests (a) Member of Court, New England Company (missionary charity) (interest ceased 7 November 2017) Director, Bridgeman Art Library Limited Category 10: Non-financial interests (b) Joint President, Reed’s School Category 10: Non-financial interests (e) Trustee, CORESS (medical research charity) (interest ceased 7 November 2017)
Policy Interests Asylum, immigration and nationality Energy and environment European Union Health services and medicine Home Affairs Local Government Northern Ireland Social services World Areas European Union Greece UK Areas County Down and Northern Ireland Hampshire Yorkshire
Luke and his father are part of the New England charity:
The Court
The New England Company is managed by a Court, who are Trustees of the Charity, chaired by a Governor. Members of the Court are required to be practising Christians.
The role of the Court is to oversee the management of the New England Company’s assets and investments and to make grants to support its objectives.
The Court meets at least four times a year to consider applications for grants, to consider how the New England Company’s income should be spent and generally to oversee the good management of the Charity.
The Virginia Company comprised of two branches, the London Company and the Plymouth or New England Company. The former was responsible for the first permanent colony in America at Jamestown on May 14th 1607 and the latter were the so-called ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ who arrived at Cape Cod in the ship the Mayflower, in November 1620, and went on to land in Plymouth Harbour on December 21st. The ‘Pilgrims’ of American historical myth were, in fact, members of the second Virginia Company branch called the New England Company
Given the royal family’s extremely close links to the Sainsburys, it is highly unlikely that Prince Charles would be unaware of Peter Ball’s involvement in the Derry Mainwaring Knight case …
The last two checks Mrs Sainsbury wrote to satanist Derry Mainwaring Knight were to purchase a satanic throne.
The biggest contributor was Mrs. Sainsbury, who wrote checks totaling $116,000. Next came the chief magistrate and former high sheriff of East Sussex, a wealthy farmer named Michael Warren, who is reported to have given nearly $80,000
Theresa May’s, (the new prime minister) first choice to head the designed to fail inquiry into establishment child abuse…Elizabeth Butler-Sloss … who tried to cover up for bishop Peter Ball
The Home Office has again been forced to defend the appointment of Lady Butler-Sloss to run the inquiry into allegations of historical child abuse amid claims she refused to go public about bishop Peter Ball implicated in a scandal.
Rev Michael Turnbull, who scheduled the graveyard dance at which Bishop Peter Ball spoke,…was domestic chaplain to the Archbishop of York Donald Coggan
Turnbull was asked what his policy regarding gay clergy would be. He replied that: “An admitted and open lifestyle is incompatible with full-time ministry.”[8]
Despite his speaking out against homosexual clergy, in 1994 the News of the World reported that the bishop had been convicted of an act of gross indecency with a Yorkshire farmer. The offence occurred on 30 August 1968, as undercover policemen kept watch on public toilets in Hull. On 13 September at Hull magistrate’s court, Turnbull, who at the time was chaplain to the Archbishop of York, pleaded guilty and was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £6.30.[11]
The disclosure of Turnbull’s gross indecency conviction came just four weeks before his scheduled enthronement. His past was known to the archbishops of Canterbury George Carey and York Stuart Blanch, to Lord Runcie, the previous archbishop and to Lord Coggan, whom Turnbull had acted as chaplain when the offence took place.[12]
According to close associates, Turnbull “seriously considered withdrawing” from his enthronement “when his past was revealed.” In his sermon during his enthronement, Turnbull spoke of the “gravity of sin” and of his “repentance”. He told the congregation that he had been “through a private and now public process of repentance”, and that he was “deeply sorry” that friends had to share in the consequences of his past. His sermon also touched on the “depth of forgiveness” by many fellow Christians.[12]
Outside the cathedral, the leader of the pressure group OutRage!, Peter Tatchell, and others protested “against what they saw as [Turnbull’s] hypocrisy”.[12]
In 1995, George Carey appointed Turnbull as chair of the Commission on the Organisation of the Church of England with the task of producing a plan to save the Church of England. The commission was given the nickname “Turnbull Commission.”[10][14]
Queen Elizabeth II has approved a nominee to replace a controversial Anglican bishop who is retiring this summer. The Rt. Rev. Michael Turnbull is the nominee to be the new bishop of Durham in northern England, succeeding the Rt. Rev. David Jenkins
1995 Turnbull report: “Working As One Body” – “A clause allowing people convicted of child abuse to become churchwardens in a package of changes to the lay office provoked bitter criticism.
alun:
The 1995 Turnbull Report ‘Working As One Body’ included a clause allowing people convicted of child abuse to become churchwardens in a package of changes to the lay office. This, unsurprisingly, provoked bitter criticism.
alun:
The Rev. Turnbull who organised the 1965 graveyard bop and hot dog roast at which Bishop Ball spoke went on to become domestic chaplain to Donald Coggan, the Archbishop of York, and later, in 1984, Bishop of Durham.
So, once again as with Bishop Ball, we have Don’t-Carey turning a blind eye to a pervert bishop, even tasking him with producing a plan to save the Church of England! The commission was given the nickname ‘Turnbull Commission’.
While the pervert Ball was counselling his friendPrince Charles, the pervert Turnbull was busy paving the way for Charles to remarry …
On 30 August 1968, as undercover policemen kept watch on public toilets in Hull, Turnbull was caught committing an act of gross indecency with a Yorkshire farmer. On 13 September, Turnbull, still chaplain to the Archbishop of York, pleaded guilty to the offence.
Prince Charles’ card and gift to Jimmy Savile:
Charles, who led tributes when Savile died, aged 84, in October 2011, had sent him cigars and gold cufflinks on his 80th birthday.
A note with the gifts read: “Nobody will ever know what you have done for this country, Jimmy. This is to go some way in thanking you for that.”
AnnaStillHereRaccoon@AnnaRaccoon2017
who they are so when they try to write about JK they will have the same treatment I’ve had. Not hide behind false names. They call him ‘Sir’ Same as Savile. They had meeting up in Leeds. Amanda, Johnny, Hewson, rabbit don’t know about moor or jervis, can’t remember.
Alun:
So the Gin Goblin (Hewson) met up with Savile’s (niece Amanda?) who has boxes of savile’s correspondence
LazerLight@Lazer_Light23
Hewson was meeting Savile’ s niece, Amanda? Why would she do that? What interest for an Irish barrister?
Alun:
Gin Goblin, is it malicious gossip when @AnnaRaccoon2017maintains you were at Leeds meeting with Amanda McKenna, niece of Jimmy Savile?
Anna Racoon:
Big Ears wrote to Savile about many things……..of cabbages and kings….
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
We know BigEars (Prince Charles) wrote to Bishop Peter Ball and Bishop Peter Ball wrote to Enoch. But did BigEars (Prince charles) write to Savile about Cleveland? Now that’s one for you, eh?
Did BigEars (Prince Charles) urge Savile to get involved with the Cleveland scandal? See what it was all about? If so, why? And with what intention?
But why would he do that? Why would he be interested in Cleveland?
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
Sounds like Jimmy was his private emissary. But he must have had a vested interest!
Lazerlight:
Jimmy Savile:
“I am also the eminence grise: the grey, shadowy figure in the background. The thing about me is I get things done & I work under cover”
And why do you think the diaries disappeared, Anna? Are they the ones that his secretary had in her garage in one of the documentaries?
AnnaStillHereRaccoon@AnnaRaccoon2017
Nope, they were ‘day books’ went missing in the first hours after Savile died. Only funeral bods, Ms McKenna and Police had access to flat.
I heard that Osborn Clark returned 25 boxes of spidery missives to Ms McKenna. Wonder if they will disappear down the same rabbit hole Savile’s diaries did.
Lazerlight
But would withholding them from Savile Inquiry not be perverting the course of justice? Who would gain?
Alun:
*Ted Hughes was a close friend of the Queen Mother.
Ted Hughes is said to have learned about Wicca and mind control from his mother: see Popular Witchcraft page 149
*Van der Posta spiritual adviser to Prince Charles; In 1982 Charles made him godfather to his heir, Prince William. Van der Post was also a close friend of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, exerting an influence on her policy in South Africa.
In the early 1950’s, when he was 46, he seduced the 14-year-old daughter of a wealthy South African winemaking family, who had been entrusted to his care during a sea voyage. She became pregnant, and although he sent her a small stipend, he never publicly acknowledged the daughter born of the relationship.
…the Queen Mother’s cousin Lilian Bowes Lyon, with whom he was having a relationship.
Even intimates of the prince knew little of the nature of the relationship he
forged with Hughes. Now he has made it tangible by placing a plaque in his
private sanctuary.
The recognition given by Charles to Hughes's role had previously been given
only to one other person: the late Sir Laurens van der Post, who once led the
prince on retreat into the Kalahari desert and became godfather to Prince
William.
Hughes, poet laureate from 1984 until his death at 68 from cancer in 1998, was
a frequent guest at Highgrove and he shared with the prince an unconventional
spiritual curiosity. His presence will now live on in two commemorative stained
glass windows installed in the prince's private temple, hidden in a glade in
the grounds.
Hughes's reputation has also been questioned since his death. Former lovers,
including Emma Tennant, the novelist, have come forward to destroy the myth
that he lived for years as a saintly recluse after the suicides of Plath and
his common-law wife Assia Wevill, who also killed their four-year-old daughter
The existence of a secret stone memorial to Ted Hughes has emerged after being found by walkers on a remote hillside on his beloved Dartmoor.
Prince Charles, a close friend of the poet laureate, gave special permission for the plain piece of granite to be laid on land owned by his Duchy of Cornwall estates near the Fernworthy forest, it was revealed yesterday
A spokeswoman for Prince Charles said the Duchy of Cornwall operates a blanket ban on such memorials but the prince intervened, although he has yet to visit it.
She said: “Ted Hughes had a very special link with the Royal family as poet laureate and moreover he was a special and dear friend of the Prince of Wales and so a rare exception was made to enable the memorial to be laid.”
The Sunday Times revelations were followed four years later by further scandal in the Vestey family, this time involving not tax but a headless corpse, lesbianism, drugs, alcohol, insanity and depravity. In 1984, Lord Vestey’s cousin, Michael Telling, killed his American bisexual wife Monika, butchering her body. Telling was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and jailed for life.
1992
21 NOVEMBER 1992
`We want a carnival atmosphere here,’ said Lord Vestey, chairman of Cheltenham Racecourse
Bishop Peter Ball led a prayer
‘This is a day for families to have fun and show the Government that the people want proper racing on a Sunday.’
He was not the strangest sight of the day. That prize must go to the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Peter Ball, who enjoyed a large congregation for his short service of prayer in the winners’ enclosure. This may have been due, in part, to the presence of Desert Orchid, who was doing a parade of honour at the time.
…several thousand children who were admitted for free..the occasion was deemed suffi- ciently respectable for Cheltenham Ladies’ College to bring along two busloads of junior girls for the first time.
Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, enduring a painful weekend of speculation about his wife’s friendship with the Prince of Wales, attended
It is quite Eye Opening Info, that Lord Mountbatten, Charles’ mentor, who introduced Jimmy Savile to the Royal Family, used to have Charles and Camilla visiting regularly in the early 70s around the time that Judge Goddard was in Britain with Camilla’s friend [11]
Truthseeker1@thewakeupcall09:
Lord Louis Mountbatten former chauffeur Norman Nield exposed him
Meanwhile, in New Zealand, there have been such newspaper headlines as, “‘Uncle Dickie’ the Sex Pervert” (N.Z. Truth, Sept. 8, 1987), since Mountbatten’s former chauffeur, Norman Nield, started revealing details of the late Lord Mountbatten’s alleged sexual exploitation of boys.
Paedophile Lord Louis Mountbatten
Edward Prince of Wales and his cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten “relax” in a canvas swimming pool on board H. M. S. Renown during their 1920 Empire Tour.
Lord Louis was a great grandson of Queen Victoria and the uncle of Prince Philip (consort of Queen Elizabeth II). Mountbatten was also a promiscuous bisexual who was famously rumored to have had an affair with Edward VIII (who was Prince of Wales at the time) when he accompanied him on his Empire tours (see photo above).
The Queen. Like any human being, she is subject to the influence of those around her. While he lived, Lord Mountbatten was a persuasive counsellor, and he formulated the plan for Prince Charles’s unusually rigorous education.
Through her marriage to Sir Johnny Scott, the current head of the Home Office‘s ‘independent’ inquiry into child abuse, Judge Lowell Goddard, has links with Camilla and Prince Charles
Sir Johnny Scott (IICSA Chair’s ex-husband) also grew up with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall[3], both their parents being involved in the Southdown hunt; Camilla’s father, Bruce Shand, the Master and Walter Scott (Johnny Scott’s Father) the chairman [4].
Isn’t there a conflict of interest for Goddard in regards to Peter Ball? Her ex-husband, Sir Johnny, father of her child, was good friends with Camilla Shand – who was close to convicted establishment paedophile Peter Ball. Ball attended her wedding to Prince Charles and Peter Ball ‘preached at the funeral of Camilla’s father’s in 2006, which indicates his standing in their household.’
Goddard inquiry: Outrage as bishop jailed for sex offences given public funding for legal team
30 July 2016
A disgraced bishop jailed for a string of sex offences has been given public funding for a legal team at the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry, The Telegraph can disclose.
The decision to pay for lawyers, costing taxpayers up to £200 an hour, to defend the reputation of Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester and of Lewes, has outraged his victims.
Ball is the first convicted sex offender to be granted taxpayer funds, setting a precedent that could pave the way for dozens of paedophiles to get the same deal.
He received the legal funding because he “may be subject to explicit criticism by the inquiry”.
A lawyer close to the inquiry said: “I was really surprised Ball was given funding. The issue is about how he was allowed to get away with it by the Church not about his offending. He has already been investigated and pleaded guilty.”
(Notable Crusader Peter Broadbent was at St Nicholas’ Church til 1980.
Ordained in 1977, Broadbent’s first parish job was as Curate to George Carey, when he was Vicar of St Nicholas, Durham and he was an Islington Labor councillor 1982-1990.)
Mark Carey, now 51, would have been no more than 17 years old at the time.
(Mark Carey was, born in 1965, he was 17 in 1982. If the woman is in her 30s now, she would have been born between 1977-1986, so in 1982, the oldest she would have been was 5 years old.)
Rev Carey was released on police bail and has since been suspended by the Church of England pending inquiries.
Father of three Rev Carey, who followed his father into the church in 1995
Rev Carey’s father was Archbishop between 1991 and 2002
He was joined at his home in Harrogate, North Yorks, yesterday by his father and mother Eileen. His wife Penny, 53, whom he married in 1988, refused to comment.
The alleged victim approached Durham Police to make the complaint. Officers from North Yorkshire police arrested him.
The former social worker– was ordained in 1995 at Wakefield Cathedral, witnessed by his father.
He had previously been curate of Christ Church in South Ossett, West Yorks and went on to be a parish priest in Sheffield and then Harrogate in 2007.
Last night, a Church of England spokesman said: “A 51-year-old priest in the Diocese of Leeds has been suspended by the Bishop following his arrest by Durham Constabulary concerning allegations of historical abuse.
His brother Andrew, who works at the Christian charity Barnabas Fund, told the Sunday Telegraph that his family did not wish to comment on the allegations against Rev Carey.
Lord Carey ‘may face explicit criticism’ from abuse inquiry
21 Oct 2016
THE former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has been granted core-participant status at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) after Professor Alexis Jay, who chairs it, ruled that he “may be subject to explicit criticism by the Inquiry in due course”.
Core participants are entitled to legal representation at the Inquiry and to receive advance disclosure of evidence. They may also cross-examine witnesses when the public hearings begin, something that is expected to happen next year.
In his application for core participant status, lawyers for Lord Carey explained that, as a retired office-holder, he was led to be believe that he would be represented at the Inquiry by lawyers for the Archbishops’ Council, which also has core-participant status. “Once the Archbishops’ Council indicated to Lord Carey that there might be some conflict between their interests and those of Lord Carey, he made contact with alternative legal representatives,” Professor Jay said.
In granting core-participant status, Professor Jay said that “Lord Carey was Archbishop of Canterbury at the time when [the former Bishop of Lewes, then of Gloucester] Peter Ball’s sexual abuse came to light in 1992, and when he received a police caution in 1993, and it is stated in Lord Carey’s application that he had a pastoral and disciplinary role in relation to Peter Ball at that time. I also understand that Lord Carey was involved in deciding on Peter Ball’s further officiation within the Church of England after he received that caution.
”The Inquiry will consider the extent to which any failings identified in relation to the diocese of Chichester and Peter Ball are representative of wider failings within the Church of England and/or the Anglican Church in general, and the nature and extent of any failings of institutions to protect children from abuse.
Police urged to investigate Lord Carey, former C of E head
A lawyer representing victims of an abusive Church of England bishop has called for an investigation into the ‘misconduct’ of former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey of Clifton, above.
According to this report, David Greenwood, representing several of Peter Ball’s victims, said he was sure the Church had covered up evidence and urged Scotland Yard to:
Consider opening an investigation into perverting the course of justice by church officials.
Greenwood spoke out after the release of documents that suggest the head of the Church of England knew about the abuse allegations but failed to act.
Sussex police documents, released under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act last week, reveal that Lambeth Palace, the residence of the head of the Church, received six letters and a number of verbal reports detailing allegations of abuse shortly after the initial investigation into Ball in 1992.
In the letters, Ball is accused of encouraged victims to pray naked, perform sex acts in front of him and share his bed.
The files indicate the Church failed to pass this evidence on to police. In February 1993, Lord Carey wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions and a chief constable in support of Ball.
During Ball’s trial last year, Lord Carey denied that the correspondence with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) amounted to a cover-up.
Last October, current Archbishop Justin Welby launched an independent review into the Church of England’s response to the allegations.
A spokesperson for Lord Carey declined to comment but said Carey was cooperating fully with Welby’s inquiry.
The newly released documents also suggest Ball associated with other known sex offenders in the clergy and was investigated in 2008 for being part of suspected pedophile ring.
The documents show Ball covered for and helped priests accused of sex abuse.
I used to work with children and young people as a Residential Social Worker in Bristol before becoming a C of E Vicar. I now lead Kairos Church, formerly St Mary’s Harrogate with All Saint’s, Harlow Hill.
A NEW vicar at St Mary’s and All Saints Church has been welcomed with open arms to a congregation displaced after their church building was made redundant. Rev Mark Carey, who is the son of former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr George Carey, was delighted at his reception.
Since 2006 when their building was declared unsafe, the congregation have been worshipping at Harrogate Grammar School where Mr Carey was licensed as Priest in Charge during a ceremony at the beginning of this month. The Bishop of Leeds and Ripon was there to lead the ceremony.
Mr Carey was previously vicar at St Mark’s Church Grenoside, Sheffield, where he had been for eight years. His wife Penny, and three children joined him at the vicarage in September as they embarked on their new life in Harrogate.
In England his time saw notable national events: he took part in the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, led worship for the nation in the Dome for the new Millennium;quoted at the Service commemorating the victims of the 9/11 attacks; led the tributes at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 2001 and preached memorably at Golden Jubilee of the Queen in 2002
He retired in 2002 at the age of 66 and was made a life peer, taking the title Lord Carey of Clifton, reflecting appreciation of his time as Bishop of Bath and Wells.
Peter Alan “Pete” Broadbent is a British Anglican bishop. He is the current Church of England Bishop of Willesden, an area bishopric in the Diocese of London. He was also the acting area Bishop of Stepney
He was 15 when he became a committed Christian through the Crusaders youth organisation. He studied English at Jesus College, Cambridge and then studied theology at St John’s College, Nottingham before being ordained.
Broadbent’s first parish job was as Curate to George Carey, the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, when he was Vicar of St Nicholas, Durham
Broadbent moved to the Diocese of London in 1980 to be curate of Emmanuel Church, Holloway and theBishop of Stepney‘s Chaplain for Mission.
Broadbent is a member of the Labour Party and was a councillor for the London Borough of Islington from 1982 and 1990, being the chair of their Development and Planning Committee.
George Carey’s wife, Eileen, was won over by Billy Graham Crusade
When Eileen was sixteen the young American preacher, Billy Graham, was conducting his London Crusade and once a week Eileen took a chartered bus to London.
Later she welcomed Billy Graham to Canterbury Cathedral for the enthronement of her husband.
Jun. 20, 1967 – Evangelist Billy Graham visits the set of the new Cliff Richard film ”Two a Penny”: Evangelist Billy Graham today paid a visit to the set at Goldhawk studies, London W. C. where he met pop star Cliff Richard, actress Dora Bryan and Ann Holloway, stars of his film ”two a penny”, which has a religious theme. The film is financed by the Graham organisation and the profits will go to help their work. Cliff Richard, who is quitting show business at the end of the year, is working in the film without pay.
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey made a personal and pastoral visit to the Revd Dr Billy Graham today. Archbishop George and Eileen Carey are close friends of Dr and Mrs. Graham.
Billy Graham and George Carey
Dr Graham was present at the Archbishop’s enthronement 10 years ago and met together several years ago during a meeting at Kanuga Episcopal Conference Centre in North Carolina.
Who is John Smyth? Barrister who led Iwerne Trust accused of physically abusing boys from Winchester College in Christian group
John Smyth QC ‘forced public schoolboys to strip naked before subjecting them to savage beatings’
Mr Smyth, a moral crusader who made his name as a barrister representing the Christian campaigner Mary Whitehouse in a landmark prosecution against the Gay News newspaper, went on to live in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Coincidence never ceases to amaze me. Look at these Royals in photos with convicted paedophiles they befriended. What rotten luck.
QUEEN’S PORNO BUTLER
Former QE2 steward Nicholas Greaves, 33, had 458 images of youngsters from two months to 16 years old on his computer – 13 in the most serious category – and 15 films.
He worked for the Royal Family between 2002 and 2004 at Buckingham Palace, Sandringham and Balmoral.
A former royal butler who opened doors for the Queen downloaded obscene images of young children, including scenes of torture and babies just months old.
Favoured butler to the Queen butler jailed for child porn offences
31 July 2006
A FORMER favoured butler to the Queen has been jailed for two years for a catalogue of sick child porn charges. Pervert Nicholas Greaves, 33, worked at Buckingham Palace for two years before leaving to become personal butler to the King of Jordan. He was caged at York Crown Court today/yesterday(THURS) for swapping depraved child porn on the internet. A police man described some of the 473 sick photographs and films – which included images of children being tortured – as among the worst he had seen.
The 16 charges date between February, this year, and April, 2004, when gay former QE2 steward Greaves still worked directly for the Queen.
He was employed by the palace between May 2002 and June 2004, before spending a year serving King Abdullah II in London. He then moved to Whitby, North Yorks, to open a cafe but still worked for the royals on a casual basis until his arrest in February this year.
Shortly before his arrest, Greaves helped with the Queen’s 80th birthday celebrations.
Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon (centre) received flowers from a young guest at Marlborough House in central London. The Queen marked her 80th birthday at a special Commonwealth celebration held in her honour in 2006
Greaves, who is thought to have been a favourite of the Queen, would help out at state functions and important events, including her 80th birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle.
Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said the images showed the degradation of children, aged from a baby of a few months to 16, of both sexes. “The depravity to which they have been subjected beggars belief,” he said. “It is not suggested that you were involved in the making of any of these images, but by downloading them and distributing some of them as you did you contributed to that very degradation of these young children.” Greaves admitted five offences of distributing indecent images of children and three counts of possessing indecent images with a view to distribute. He also accepted seven counts of possessing indecent images and one count of possessing indecent films of children. The ex-butler also admitted failing to surrender to police bail in May, when he went on the run for a month, claiming to be suicidal. Simon Reevell, mitigating, said as a result of the case Greaves had lost his social standing, home and business. “This is the same man who not very long ago was one of 16 under-butlers who were responsible for serving the Royal Family,” he said. “In two years he travelled to Sandringham, he was with them in Scotland, he served them in Buckingham Palace. “
He left that employment because he was promoted and he became the butler at a private residence in Belgravia of the Jordanian royal family, serving directly the King himself. “He moved from that to a failed suicide attempt, waking up surrounded by left over tablets, standing at the sea edge looking for a cliff and sufficient courage to hurl himself into oblivion.”
Prosecutor Andrew Hatton said police became aware of Greaves’ interest in child porn after searching the computer of a suspected paedophile, in Twickenham, who is facing child rape charges. An email from NewkyBrown2004 – a nickname traced back to Greaves – was found to contain five pictures of young boys being abused by adult males.
Greaves was questioned by police and immediately admitted owning indecent images of children and distributing them on the Internet. He said he used a one to one messenger service to chat with paedophiles and swap images of children but denied it was for sexual pleasure. “In interview he said he was not interested in the content of the photos but instead in the people who sent them,” Mr Hatton said. “He said he wanted to know what made them tick.” The former butler told police he thought they would only find six images on his computer as he regularly deleted them and had not built up a large collection. But when they searched the machine they found 453 indecent photos of children and 15 sick films. These had been categorised using a scale of one to five, where five indicates the sickest type of child porn. There were 13 pictures and one film in the top category and over 250 images at level three and above. Greaves told police he was surprised by the find and said he thought there was only around 100 deleted images. He could not account for over 300 pictures and 12 films not deleted and still stored in his MyPictures and MyDocuments files. The ex royal servant failed to answer police bail on 8 May, this year, but handed himself in at a police station a month later on 12 June. Greaves claimed he had tried to kill himself by taking over 100 pills the night before he was due to answer bail and was shocked to wake up alive. He said he panicked and drove off on his moped to Redcar and Blackpool looking for cliffs he could jump off but failed to find any. He then travelled round the country for a month, feeling suicidal, before handing himself in. Mr Reevel said Greaves was of previous good character and now realised how wrong his actions had been. Judge Marson ordered him to sign on the sex offenders register and disqualified him from working with children. He added: “There is no reason for the possession and distribution of these images other than for sexual gratification. “There is no other logical explanation and were it not for people like you those who make and distribute these dreadful images would have no market for them.” Speaking after the verdict Sgt Darrin Knight said: “I have a great deal of sympathy with the children depicted in the images, some of which are were the worst I’d seen in 17 years. “The judge understands the link between the people who download these images and the people who make them.” Sgt Knight said Greaves’ royal duties had included opening doors for the Queen and added: “As I understand it she has preferred butlers and he was one of them.”
A Westminster Abbey chorister who sang at Wills and Kate’s wedding was arrested over child sex allegations. Simon Gay, 61,...It is thought the case relates to his involvement in a monastic order set up by Bishop Peter Ball, jailed in 2015 for indecent assaults on young men.
Williams resign? Welby didn’t notice abuse at a camp. In another case revd James Francis arrested for procurement. He is Mr A in Gibb report
Graham@Graham1munro
Calls for Carey to stand down. But Welby sat on the Smyth abuse in 2013 and made no attempt to contact the reporting victim ? No one has !!
Omg any other job and sex offence = sack. @RoyalNavy = fast track for Revd James Francis arrested for procurement. Also Mr A in Gibb Report
#resign Rowan Williams @JustinWelby dean of @wabbey too little too late. Still covering up abbey scandal Simon Gay and Revd James Francis RN
Rev Revelation@revelation_rev
Revd James Francis RN Chaplain outed +Peter Ball yet he was linked with Ball and Simon Gay. How many other connections?
Appointments
11 August 2017
FRANCIS. The Revd James Francis, Royal Navy Chaplain, now Royal Naval Chaplain of the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre, Amport House (Royal Naval Chaplaincy Service).
The original church was built in 1704, on the site of what is now Admiralty House. The present church was opened in 1786,[3] and is built in red brick in Flemish bond. It was possibly designed by Marquand, a Navy Board surveyor, working under Samuel Wyatt at Admiralty House. The contractors were Thomas Parlby & Sons. The church suffered some bomb damage in May 1941, and was restored in 1955-6.
As the oldest surviving chapel in a navy yard, it was Grade II listed on 25 September 1972.[4]
In October 2012, the church held ceremonies marking the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, attended by Princess Anne. [5] As of 2015 the current chaplain is Revd. James Francis, RN.
Royal harpist faces sexual offences trial with partner
June 23, 2017
A HARPIST who has played for the Queen and other members of the royal family is facing child sex abuse charges.
...has also played for four consecutive prime ministers — ‘
Perrett’s former partner Richard Barton-Wood, 68, denies five charges of indecent assault, one of attempted assault and other two charges, all relating to the same teenager.
Perrett, from Alpheton near Sudbury in Suffolk, performed at Prince Philip’s 70th birthday party and has also played for Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Princess Anne, Prince Edward and the Duchess of York.
Barton-Wood, from Wymondham in Norfolk, is a warden and publicity officer at 12th century Wymondham Abbey.
He is said to have been working as a teacher in Suffolk when the offences allegedly took place.
Charlotte and Danielle have worked together since 1993 and are one of the most successful soprano and harp duos around. In the past decade they have toured France, South Korea, Japan, USA and UK.
World-renowned harpist who played for Queen jailed for sexually abusing schoolboy
27 FEB 2018
Danielle Perrett, who has performed for the Queen and several Prime Ministers, had earlier been convicted of separately indecently assaulting the boy while he was in his early teens
Perrett, from Alpheton near Sudbury in Suffolk, performed at Prince Philip’s 70th birthday party and has also played for Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Princess Anne, Prince Edward and the Duchess of York.
Her ex-fiance Richard Barton-Wood, 68, was also found guilty of separately indecently assautling the boy in the 1980s.Barton-Wood had worked as a substitute teacher at his school.He said Barton-Wood sexually assaulted him on sailing trips and camping trips, and that on separate occasions Perrett took his virginity and performed sex acts on him.
Barton-Wood, from Wymondham in Norfolk, is a warden and publicity officer at 12th century Wymondham Abbey.
He is said to have been working as a teacher in Suffolk when the offences allegedly took place.
That this House, noting that the Prince’s Youth Business Trust is 10 years old, views with approval its continuing contribution to the creation of small enterprises by young people in all parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland; recognises the importance of the Trust’s support which enables young people to develop their self-confidence, achieve economic independence, fulfil their ambitions and contribute to the communities in which they live; records that, since its launch, the Trust has helped more than 32,000 young people to make the transition from unemployment to viable self-employment; congratulates the volunteers and staff of the Trust and those individuals, companies, trusts and foundations, together with local and central government, whose gifts in cash and in kind make the vital work of the Trust possible; congratulates the Trust on achieving 10 years of growing success since its foundation in 1986; and commends the work of the Trust to the interest and support of all honourable Members.
Some notable signers to the EDM- Peter Bottomley, Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng, Greville Janner, Tim Rathbone – he wrote a letter in support of paedophile Bishop Peter Ball
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey visiting Sir Peter Bottomley’s local Sunday school group
A review by Dame Moira Gibb found he had failed to pass on information about abuse carried out by Bishop Peter Ball.
Ms Racine’s abuser, Michael Walsh, was convicted of five indecent assault charges and confessed to sexual relationships with a further eight children.
He was sent to prison in 1990.
He had been a teacher, a lay vicar at Chichester Cathedral and also ran a choir at a church in Chichester.
Child abuse ‘inevitable’
After his release in 1992, Walsh returned to the same church to be part of the choir.
Concerned for the safety of other girls, in July of that year Ms Racine wrote to the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, requesting his help.
Speaking after Lord Carey’s resignation, Ms Racine, 54, said: “I was very concerned that my abuser had just come out of prison and it appeared that he’d just gone straight back into the parish church where he’d originally worked, and was again in a position of authority in the choir there where young children – specifically girls – sang.
“I was really worried that these girls were at a huge risk. I felt it was inevitable that children would be abused.”
Three months after writing her letter she was told Lord Carey had been unable to consider her concerns because he was “committed to a series of visits overseas, together with his summer break”.
‘Duty of forgiveness’
She was informed one month later that the “Archbishop had been assured that there was no question of Michael Walsh being reinstated in the choir,” but nine months after raising her concerns she received a letter from the Archbishop’s chief of staff confirming her abuser was back in the choir.
Lambeth Palace wrote to Ms Racine saying the parish authorities had taken “great care” in coming to their decision to allow Walsh’s return to his position “weighing carefully the risk of re-offending against… the Christian duty of forgiveness”.
Michael Walsh, seen here in the 1990s, was allowed to return to the same church choir after his release from prison
The letters revealed Lord Carey regretted the decision which allowed Alesha’s abuser back into churches and offered her his sympathies.
Ms Racine said: “I thought his response was deeply hurtful, in that it had taken me a lot of courage to write to him at all.
“Most of what he said was in defence of the Church and the people in it, rather than try to reach out to me as a victim.
“I do feel it was a complete failure on his part.”
A spokesman for the former Archbishop of Canterbury said the correspondence with Ms Racine had been conducted on Lord Carey’s behalf by his chief of staff.
He said: “Lord Carey has absolutely no memory of this chain of correspondence or these events. He cannot therefore comment.”
The Sanctuary, built for the new millennium- four knobs which must be turned in a special way…
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles plan to ring in the new year with a “bring-a- bottle” party for their neighbors in Gloucestershire
How the ghost of Diana still haunts Highgrove: As Charles stages a festival to celebrate his beloved garden, RICHARD KAY reveals a poignant secret
Charles to open up beloved 15-acre estate with Highgrove Garden Festival
Garden features busts of influential poets, religious figures and relations
But it still holds signs it was family home to Charles, Diana, and princes
Sundial they got as a wedding present and places boys played are there
11 April 2016
Once a week, Prince Charles takes out a pen and writes knowledgeably about a matter close to his heart.
Nothing unusual about that — he is famous, notorious even, for his ‘black spider’ letters, unfailingly courteous but often couched with just a hint of princely menace, addressed to ministers, civil servants and other public figures.
But this correspondence is different. For a start, he writes in red ink, not black. And rather than the anguish so often evident in the missives which have thumped onto the desks of Whitehall ministries for the past three decades, these are not introspective but full of practical good ideas.
What’s more, they are acted on at once. For they are the letters the Prince writes to his head gardener at Highgrove, his country home for the past 36 years.
Every week, Debs Goodenough, who has been in charge of the 15-acre formal garden since 2008, writes her own note to her boss.
These weekly reports outline what work has been done over the previous seven days and raise issues about new features, such as a new border or what replacement plants he wants.
The points are answered elaborately. Also included are reminders of tasks requiring urgent attention.
This is Prince Charles at his most relaxed: at home in the place where he is undisputed king of all he surveys.
Today, the fruits of his horticultural achievements will echo to the footfall of the curious who will arrive for the inaugural Highgrove Garden Festival.
As well as wandering around the lavishly tended grounds and buying plants and flowers that have inspired the Prince’s displays, visitors will be able to listen to talks from 24 speakers, including some who helped create the garden’s many spectacular features.
Highgrove garden is full of surprises and is constantly changing. By turns breathtaking and colourful, it can also seem ostentatious and eccentric.
Take the ‘Wall of Worthies’, where busts of some of the most influential people in the Prince’s life have been assembled into a screen. They include composer and musician Sir John Tavener, Debo Cavendish, the late dowager Duchess of Devonshire, poet and scholar Dr Kathleen Raine and the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.
Elsewhere, other busts of people Charles admires include his spiritual guru Sir Laurens van der Post and Dr Alan McGlashan, the distinguished psychiatrist whose patients included Princess Diana.
A memorial is dedicated to the Queen Mother, to whom the prince attributes his love of gardening. A bronze frieze depicts her in her favourite gardening hat and pearls.
Not far away, a patch of long grass marks the grave of Tigga, the Prince’s much-missed Jack Russell. Nearby is a stone carving of the dog snoozing and there is another likeness of Tigga woven from willow.
Royal experts will recognise the two massive earthenware jars that William and Harry clambered inside to pose for their father’s 1995 Christmas card. Only some will know that when they were sent to the Prince of Wales, care of Tetbury, Glos’, the jars were delivered not to Highgrove but to the local Prince of Wales pub, much to the landlord’s surprise.
Another terracotta pot — lying on its side in the Mediterranean garden — was at the centre of a mini-drama when a young Prince Harry hid inside, to the consternation of his bodyguards, who feared he had vanished from the estate.
But what is perhaps most striking about the garden is the extent to which the shadow of Diana still hangs over it. Highgrove was, of course, a family home and an idyllic playground for the young Princes William and Harry.
Traces of Diana are easily spotted — the sundial, for instance, a wedding present from the Duke of Beaufort, and a bank of rhododendrons given by the late Edmund de Rothschild, also to mark the 1981 royal wedding.
The haunts where Diana played with her children are evident, too — she must have watched fretfully as William and Harry clambered up to their tree house, accessible by rope ladder and with trap door.
PRINCE CHARLES AND HIS KINGDOM OF ECCENTRICITIES
Potted history
Charles bought Highgrove in 1980 shortly before meeting Diana, and it became their country home after their marriage.
He described it as ‘stark and exposed, without a trace of any shelter and without a single flower-bed beside the house. It needed hedges, enclosures and vistas, so bit by bit I tried to tackle it.’ There was no grand plan, he says. Instead ‘it just grew like Topsy’.
Helping hands
The Prince was determined to create a self-sufficient organic garden where he could ‘restore lost habitats and plant lots of hedgerows and trees to heal the landscape’.
In 1982 he entered into a partnership with Dame Miriam Rothschild, the late natural scientist, and they planted an experimental 25 acres with 130 native wildflower varieties which became the celebrated meadows.
Together with Mollie, dowager Marchioness of Salisbury, he started work on three key features — the sundial garden, the terrace garden and the kitchen garden, where rows of vegetables and fruit trees are set out.
In 1989 art historian and landscape designer Sir Roy Strong was brought in to shape the topiary, and gardening writer Rosemary Verey designed a cottage garden which was dug with help from five-year-old Prince Harry.
Generous pals
Throughout the gardens are examples of gifts from the prince’s friends, from plants and trees to sculptures and carvings. At the end of the third-of-a-mile-long avenue of lime trees, which was planted in 1994, is a 40ft obelisk topped with a gilded phoenix, given to Charles on his 50th birthday by the Sultan of Oman.
The cast iron column on which the bird stands was salvaged from Victoria station in London and given to Charles by construction tycoon and railway enthusiast Sir William McAlpine.
In the arboretum, there is a bronze of the daughters of Tsar Nicholas II killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and called the Daughters of Odessa, which was a gift from the U.S.
Near to the lily pool is another bronze of a Borghese gladiator copied from the original which is in the Louvre in Paris and given to Charles by his friend, the Marquess of Cholmondeley.
An ornate timber bee house, holding ten hives, was presented from the people of Slovenia. Elsewhere, an Indian bean tree was a 50th birthday gift from Elton John, while the Monarchist League of Australia gave 60 ferns for his 60th in 2008.
Among the rare species, are a Manchurian ash, planted and blessed by the Dalai Lama during a visit in 1999, and a magnolia tree donated by ex-James Bond star Pierce Brosnan to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002.
Nooks and crannies
Chickens with their own police guards: In the early years of the garden, the free-range chickens roamed near the houses where the police were billeted. ‘There was an officer known as the “sergeant of the coop” who kept an eye on them,’ recalls Ken Wharfe. Today, there are 100 hens, whose much-prized eggs are sold locally.
The sanctuary: This is out of bounds to all but invited guests. It’s the tiny woodland chapel, built to mark the Millennium, where Charles likes to pray.
The Stumpery: Conceived in the Eighties after the Prince received a lorry full of old, rotting tree stumps from Lord Cowdray’s estate in Sussex. Bedded in with the roots of ancient trees, this Victorian concept was planted with ferns and foliage. Prince Philip famously asked him: ‘When are you going to set fire to this lot?’
Paying guests
This week’s festival will see 4,000 visitors tramping round the garden. By the end of the year — visitors are permitted from mid-April to mid-October — 40,000 people will have paid a total £650,000 in entrance fees (which the Prince donates to charities).
Eye-watering cost
The precise number of plants, bulbs and trees is not known but one estimate puts it above 750 varieties. There are 21 gardeners and estate workers at all his homes. Over the years, he has lavished many millions on the garden. The Stumpery alone cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The legacy
Regardless of what he achieves as king, Charles’s greatest legacy may be his enchanting garden, where he has allowed his imagination to run riot and created a landscape — as he puts it — to ‘feed the soul, warm the heart and delight the eye.’
As the Prince told Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time last week, there was particular concern over this feature. ‘All the ladies were in despair that they were going to drop out (of it) . . .’ Though he did not name them, those ladies were almost certainly Diana and the Queen.
Wherever you turn there are associations with Diana. Once, when Charles was away, she asked royal protection officer Ken Wharfe if he could arrange for some go-karts to be delivered to Highgrove for the weekend. William laid out a track through the vegetable garden and Charles’s cherished wildflower meadow.
‘The area got churned up but he made sure it was all put back,’ says Wharfe. Fearing the worst when he next saw the Prince, he was surprised when Charles told him: ‘I hear you had a marvellous weekend with the boys — you’re not thinking of becoming the next Bernie Ecclestone are you?’
It’s true that Charles has expunged some traces of his ex-wife. The small cottage garden, on to which her sitting room opened, was dug up soon after her death and replaced with a yew hedge.
One observer commented tartly: ‘It is so very masculine. We called it Charles’s “Ego Garden”.’ The joke stuck and even Charles now refers to it as his ego garden.
The Prince also redecorated Highgrove after the couple divorced, ridding the house of Diana’s touches.
In contrast, Diana kept Kensington Palace just as it had been during their marriage — she felt the young princes would benefit from the familiarity of its decor.
In time, however, Charles learned from her example and ensured that mementoes of Diana were kept at Highgrove to please his children.
One unexpected sight is a statue of Diana, Goddess of Hunting. According to Highgrove biographer Bunny Guinness, it’s positioned at the end of one of the garden’s ‘most inspiring vistas’.
Visitors looking for more historical flourishes can see a mulberry tree which grew from a cutting taken from a tree planted by Henry VIII at Hampton Court.
And there is the Boscobel oak, grown from the tree which reputedly hid Charles II from Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
Of course, most will be coming for the magnificent array of spring flowers, and they won’t be disappointed, the coronation meadow is ablaze with daffodils and the magnolia and cherry blossom trees are in their pomp.
Times 27/7/18 : Peter Ball: the sinful bishop and a very English cover-up
Peter Ball escaped justice for decades, at a terrible cost to his young victims, thanks to his many establishment friends, argues Sean O’Neill
The tale of the paedophile bishop and the heir to the throne — private prayer sessions, gifts of money and a 20-year correspondence — is the stuff of a conspiracy theorist’s dream. Except that the story of Peter Ball and the Prince of Wales is not a theory. It is a key element in a real, modern-day account of how powerful people in Britain formed a protective shield around a predatory sex offender.
This Very English Scandal is not yet the stuff of a TV drama like the recent dramatisation of the Jeremy Thorpe affair. It is too raw, too real and too recent — a scandal that involves not just the prince but also an archbishop, a senior judge, government ministers and MPs, public school headmasters and the country’s top prosecutors and policemen.
They did what they did because he was one of their own. He was educated, articulate, plausible and his word was taken at face value while the young men who said he abused them were condemned as “mischief-makers”.
Despite strong evidence and a police desire to put him on trial for serious offences in 1993, some of his influential friends helped Ball to escape with a caution in return for resigning his ministry. Those friends then spent two decades rehabilitating him in the Church of England and the upper echelons of society before justice finally caught up with him and he was jailed in 2015.
A handful of key players have appeared this week at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. We have seen the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton — a man who wrote a few months after Ball admitted guilt that he believed the bishop to be “basically innocent” — stumbling through hours of public questioning.
Also giving evidence was Wayne Murdock, the police detective who investigated Ball in 1992, recalling how the “hot potato” case drew letters and phone calls from bishops, MPs and even a senior appeal court judge.
Much attention has focused on Ball’s relationship with the Prince of Wales, who fought to avoid providing evidence. He hired the law firm Harbottle & Lewis to argue that demands from the public inquiry for “intensely private and confidential material” were a breach of his human rights. In the end, Clarence House insists, the prince gave his evidence voluntarily. His written submission is just seven pages long but remarkable details have emerged about his closeness to the disgraced bishop.
Ball had what was described as a “ministry with the Prince of Wales” and gave him “spiritual counselling”. In return, the prince provided Ball with “small gifts of money” and a sympathetic ear. The Duchy of Cornwall provided a newly purchased house in a Somerset village. Above all, his connection to the prince — which Ball made sure everyone knew about — gave him royal approval for a return to society after his police caution.
Ball relished his royal connections. He preached at the funeral of Bruce Shand, the Duchess of Cornwall’s father, in 2006 and was reported to be a guest at the duchess’s wedding to the prince in 2005. One document suggests he was invited to the Highgrove Millennium Eve party. He also claimed to be a friend of the Duchess of York.
In 1998, Ball wrote to Lord Carey boasting of the number of invitations to preach he was receiving: “I have spoken to 400 voluntary workers in Eastbourne with the lord lieutenant . . . I am shortly to preach to the Grenadier Guards in their chapel; preach at Wellington College, confirm at Radley College and next year preach at Dartmouth to what looks like a full turnout of the royal family.”
Only snippets of his correspondence with the prince have been made public. They are full of self-pity from Ball and lavish support from the prince. In February 1995 Charles wrote to Ball: “I wish I could do more. I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated.” In 1997 he referred to a “frightful and terrifying man” and added: “I’ll see off this horrid man if he tries anything again.” The prince now says he cannot recall who he was referring to, but Ball had repeatedly claimed that his “accusers” were persecuting him.
The prince admits that his relationship with Ball only ended when the bishop, who cannot be stripped of his title under church rules, was convicted and jailed at the Old Bailey in 2015 for the sexual assault and exploitation of 13 young men. Charges relating to two boys aged under 16 were left on file.
The prince has expressed “deep personal regret” that he was “misled” by Ball. He maintains that he was “not aware until recently that a caution in fact carries an acceptance of guilt”.
That excuse has upset many of Ball’s victims. The Bishop of Gloucester’s resignation after being cautioned in 1993 was a national news story and can hardly have escaped royal attention. The Times reported on its front page that Ball had quit after a formal caution, “a legal step that is taken only after a clear admission of guilt”.
Richard Scorer, solicitor for five of the bishop’s victims, thinks the prince has been afflicted by “wilful blindness”, while William Chapman, counsel for another group of victims, says: “Prince Charles has many advisers — he only had to ask what a caution meant.”
The prince was not alone. The bishop cultivated friends in high places and drew on their support when he was threatened.
As they considered the case against Ball in the early 1990s, Albert Pacey, chief constable of Gloucestershire, and Dame Barbara Mills, the director of public prosecutions, received 24 letters from people in public life expressing support or sympathy for Ball. One letter to Dame Barbara came from Tim Renton, the former Conservative chief whip, who urged that “criminal action” should not be taken against a “man of immense kindness, charity and humour dedicated to serving God in the community”. Renton and his wife, according to inquiry evidence, “decided to write on House of Commons headed notepaper about Peter Ball, precisely so that they would get a more elevated and serious response”. CPS policy was that letters from MPs “had to be responded to at a senior level and required internal investigation and briefing at this stage from the DPP”.
Matthew Parris noted this week that “it’s friendship not money that most corrupts British politics”. The same is true of the corruption of public life and, in this case, the thwarting of the proper process of criminal justice.
Ball’s “helpers”, Mr Chapman argues, assumed “that as members of the establishment they are entitled, even duty bound, to weigh in on behalf of their establishment friends accused of serious crimes, even when they are not sure of what’s been alleged”.
Ball was always an odd member of that establishment. Born in 1932, he was educated at Lancing College and Cambridge University, and became a priest in 1957. His identical twin, Michael, also entered ecclesiastical life and became Bishop of Truro.
The brothers seemed, however, to have stepped outside the establishment ranks when they set up their monastic order, the Community of the Glorious Ascension, in 1960. Arguing that the Church of England had “gone soft”, they practised an austere form of worship. The order and its bizarre ceremonies became the cover for Peter Ball’s sexual offending through naked prayer and flagellation, which he falsely claimed were in the tradition of St Francis of Assisi.
Although he professed to live in near poverty, Ball loved the high life. Household bills during his short period as Bishop of Gloucester from 1992 until his resignation in 1993 were astronomical. Staff at Bishopscourt, his official residence in Gloucester, said that after he arrived “household expenditure on food and alcohol increased significantly and the house was expensively decorated and furnished”.
Ball had important friends and liked to entertain them. As suffragan Bishop of Lewes, he had made contacts in the Conservative Party. Mrs Thatcher was impressed by him and he was invited to No 10. When the see of Gloucester became vacant, the Downing Street appointments secretary Sir Robin Catford, a friend of Ball, ensured that he was picked.
He told John Major, then the prime minister, that Ball had been a squash blue at Cambridge and possessed “a quite extraordinary sparkling personality, impish humour and an unrivalled ability to communicate”. He was also “terribly good fun”.
Ball’s new post allowed him to enlist his most powerful friend when his enthronement at Gloucester Cathedral was attended by the Prince of Wales. He became a frequent visitor to Charles’s home at Highgrove where he administered Communion, prayed with the prince and advised him. Charles is adamant, and previous inquiries have concluded, that he did not interfere with the legal process or in Ball’s campaign to have his ministry restored after accepting a police caution in 1993. He has, however, conceded that he discussed Ball with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Lord Carey, the prince recalls, “was supportive of Peter Ball and thought him a good man and priest”.
Even before Ball was arrested in 1992, Lord Carey had telephoned Sir Peter Imbert, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, to ask what was going on. After Ball’s arrest, six people wrote to the archbishop with further allegations against him, some detailing abusive conduct. None of the letters was passed to detectives and Lord Carey called for prayers that the investigation “will clear [Ball’s] name”.
After Ball’s resignation in 1993, the church offered nothing to his victims but gave him thousands of pounds from the archbishop’s discretionary fund. Within two years he had been given permission to conduct services again. By 1997 Lord Carey, who had Ball to stay as a house guest at Lambeth Palace, had given him permission to carry out bishop’s duties again. Ball also asked for and got the archbishop’s blessing to conduct confirmation services at public schools. Ball said the pastoral support of the archbishop was “the light that sustained me at times”.
Well-placed friends rallied round to campaign for Ball’s return to the senior ranks of the church. There was even talk of a legal challenge to his caution, despite the fact he had admitted being guilty of a criminal offence. Prominent in the campaign was Anthony Lloyd, by now Lord Lloyd of Berwick, a law lord. Lloyd was perhaps Ball’s most cavalier supporter. Despite being an appeal court judge at the time of the 1990s investigation, he intervened in a criminal case by writing to the chief constable of Gloucestershire and the DPP. He told them Ball was “the most gentle upright and saintly man” who now found himself in an “appalling situation”. He also telephoned the lead detective on the case, musing in his “very posh” voice: “I know the DPP, I would like to influence her but I won’t.” The policeman made a note of the words in is diary.
Lloyd was one of what a Lambeth Palace aide described as a “powerful group of friends . . . coming to Peter’s aid”. He was still fighting Ball’s corner in 2013 when the bishop was under investigation by Sussex police. Lloyd, who denies any impropriety, wrote three letters to the Sussex chief constable demanding to know why his friend had been “manhandled”, why there was any need for an investigation and why the case was taking so long.
Sussex police said Prince Charles’s office was also in contact with them in 2013, wanting to know if they had seized from Ball any “material that may be embarrassing to Prince Charles or the monarchy in general”. The police responded that nothing to embarrass the prince had been found.
Lord Carey, too, was still in the Ball camp. He gave a witness statement for Ball’s defence rather than accept the invitation to be a prosecution witness. A police officer noted after a meeting with Lord Carey that he “feels PB has been punished enough”.
The judge, the prince and the archbishop maintained their contact and belief in Peter Ball until he finally admitted his multiple offences in 2015. He exerted a hold over these powerful people and exploited their influence — spoken and unspoken — to deny his victims justice for decades.
Thirty-two men have now complained of abuse by Ball — the true number is thought to be much higher. The first complainant, Neil Todd, who was 17 when Ball targeted him in 1992, left Britain to try to escape the trauma and rebuild his life in Australia. When the Ball case was reopened in 2012, and he was contacted by police and the media, the trauma returned and he took his own life. Mr Todd and his family had first come forward in 1992 fearing that there would be a cover-up. Their fears proved to be well founded. Ball, for his part, was released on licence in February last year after 17 months in prison. Now 86, he lives in Somerset with his twin brother Michael.
The notion of the establishment cover-up has been discredited in recent years in the aftermath of Scotland Yard’s botched handling of lurid and unfounded allegations of child abuse and murder against Lord Bramall, Harvey Proctor and the late Lord Brittan of Spennithorne. The Peter Ball affair is a reminder that, sometimes, extraordinary stories can also be true ones.
Sainsbury / Janner / Whitelaw /Enoch Powell / Dr Coggan
(Dr Coggan part of Bishop Ball’s consecration)
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Donald Coggan with the three new bishops – two of them formerly Anglican monks – consecrated at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. They are, from left, the Rt Rev Anselm Genders, Bishop of Burmuda and formerly Bursar of the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, Dr Coggan, The Rt Rev Peter Ball, Suffragan Bishop of Lewes in the diocese of Chichester, and the Rt Rev Peter Nott, Suffragan Bishop of Taunton and formerly Rector of Baconsfield in Buckinghamshire.
Some key points to take away is that Hubert Braiser (Theresa May’s father) worked for the Community of the Resurrection Seminary School in Mirfield, West Yorkshire
Cyrenians -Its founder was Anton Wallich-Clifford, a Catholic probation officer who in 1963 started the Simon Community, a movement set up to provide an alternative for homeless single people who, at the time, faced the stark choice between night shelters and huge, 1,000-bed lodging houses.
The tragic Sainsbury’s heir who gave away his millions…he left his money to the Prince’s Trust.
26 May 2007
For Annabel Sainsbury, scion of one of Britain’s wealthiest dynasties and sister of the former Labour Cabinet minister Lord Sainsbury, the 30th birthday of her eldest son Jason should have been a proud milestone. It was the day when Jason inherited a £2.5 million fortune from his grandfather, the late supermarket baron Sir Robert Sainsbury, and an occasion that had prompted much speculation at the family’s 400-acre estate in Horsham, West Sussex.
The Jason Kanabus Fund, to be launched later this month, will be administered through The Prince’s Trust
Annabel’s father, Robert, the famous philanthropist and patron of the arts, was already a director of Sainsbury’s by the time she was born – he spent his life working alongside his more flamboyant brother Alan at the head of the family supermarket business, which grew into a nationwide empire during the post-war years.
“I had a privileged upbringing,” Annabel admits.
Annabel’s father, Robert, the famous philanthropist and patron of the arts, was already a director of Sainsbury’s by the time she was born
“We had wonderful Christmases and family parties,”
Francis Bacon – Portrait of Sainsbury (Robert Sainsbury)
“I was the youngest of four and Father was always entertaining well-known and influential people. The artists Henry Moore and Francis Bacon were regular dinner guests.
“Once, the former editor of The Times William Rees-Mogg (now a Mail on Sunday columnist) had to nip out between the main course and pudding to finish the front page.
Robert and Lisa Sainsbury became Francis Bacon’s patrons in 1955 and for a short period they avidly collected his work. This portrait of Robert Sainsbury can be seen to relate to Bacon’s Businessmen series of the previous year, which also employed a degree of realism unusual in his work.
The blurred facial features and the perspective lines are recurring themes in Bacon’s portraits.
Lisa commissioned Bacon to paint this portrait of her husband (he did not normally work to commission) and, later, begin a series of sittings for the artist. Bacon produced some eight studies of Lisa; three of which are in the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection.
Sir Robert Sainsbury (1906—2000) with his wife, Lisa (1912—2014), was a well-known sponsor and patron of the arts. In 1978 the couple founded the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. They donated the bulk of their art collection to this centre. In the 1950s, the Sainsburys began to collect paintings by Bacon, with whom they developed a close relationship. He painted one portrait of Robert and eight studies of Lisa, but destroyed five of these.
Tucked away on the old Church of Satan website, there is a list called “Satanic Art 101.” This series explores one artist from that list, in this case Francis Bacon. All the old Church has to say is
Francis Bacon (1909-1992) Painter Screaming popes, perverse eroticism, and a raw, undefiled aesthestic that demonstrates that the beast in man does get some exercise from time to time.
Revealed: How the Kray twins STALKED Francis Bacon and even sent him their naff paintings while they were in prison
Francis Bacon revealed startling story on how he first met the Kray Twins
Bacon was living in the Moroccan city of Tangier when he met them
Ronnie Kray asked Bacon if he could bring a Spanish boy to his house
A few years later, one of the Krays ordered several men to break into Bacon’s studio and steal his paintings late at night
24 August 2015
During the three decades we were friends, Francis Bacon told me many strange stories about his life — but perhaps the most startling was his account of gaining two unwelcome fans in the form of the Kray Twins. It was during the 1950s that one of the most celebrated yet controversial artists of the 20th century met two of its most notorious gangsters.
The setting was the Moroccan city of Tangier, a place where, as Francis put it: ‘People came to lose their inhibitions — above all queers from England and America.’
Francis was living there when the Krays visited on holiday. Soon after they arrived, Francis received a request from Ronnie Kray, who was said to be the crueller of the brothers and, like Francis, was attracted to much younger men.
‘He said he had fallen for some Spanish boy but he didn’t think he could take him back to his hotel. He was worried about the impression it might make, though you wouldn’t think he’d have cared after cutting all those throats.
‘Anyway, he asked if he could bring him to my place. I had lots of rooms so I agreed, and after that I never saw the end of him. He always seemed to be there.’
If Ronnie Kray was grateful, he had a strange way of showing it. Some years later, with newspapers reporting that Francis’s paintings were selling for colossal sums, one of the Krays’ heavies broke into his studio in London and stole some of his pictures.
Too scared to involve the police, the artist only got the paintings back when they eventually turned up at auction, paying a ridiculous sum of money for his own work.
And he was not free of the Krays even after they were locked up for life in 1969. ‘I still hear from them,’ he told me. ‘They send me these paintings they do there. They’re very odd, always of these soft landscapes with little cottages in them.’
In Tangier, Francis had seen the Krays force a man to go down on his knees and kiss their shoes in a restaurant full of people.
‘Deep down I hated the idea of what they did to people,’ he said, and yet they clearly fascinated him, as did so many other men from the East End.
He believed that they were somehow more ‘real’ and ‘direct’ than their effete, devious counterparts elsewhere, and at one point he bought a house on the Thames near Limehouse, East London — which is today part of fashionable Docklands but was then one of the roughest parts of the city.
This was somewhat ill-advised, since the light constantly reflecting off the water proved distracting to his work. But for Francis, the area had the advantage of abounding with villains, and toughs working in the docks.
He described it melodramatically as ‘the house I shall be murdered in’ and, although he lived there only a short while, he clearly loved the danger of what Oscar Wilde called ‘feasting with panthers’.
Wearing gold watches which he flaunted as a come-on to ‘rough trade’, he had very specific tastes.
‘I actually prefer men who aren’t queer, or who don’t think they are,’ he told me. ‘That’s in the beginning at least. Afterwards, of course, they’re just as boring as the others.’
For many years, his lover was George Dyer, a pale and athletic young man who had the air of a successful East End entrepreneur.
In fact, as I learned from the gossip in Soho bars, he was an unsuccessful thief and burglar. One story suggested they met when Francis caught him breaking into his studio in Kensington via a skylight.
Their relationship was in its early stages when I first met Francis in 1963. As I explained in Saturday’s Mail, I was then a 21-year-old student who sought an interview with him for the magazine I edited at Cambridge University.
Although I have always been determinedly heterosexual, we developed a lasting friendship and I was often invited to see his paintings before they had been revealed to the wider world.
The first he showed me was one of a series of portraits of George who was then around 30 — some 20 years his junior. It depicted him as so badly beaten up that his own mother wouldn’t recognise him.
I wondered what went on between them. Perhaps Francis’s desire to pummel the figures he painted was a kind of re-enactment of what he himself went through as a willing victim of sadomasochism.
He told me that one former lover in Tangier had possessed a collection of rhino whips and been ‘kinky in all sorts of ways and very extreme’. On one occasion, Francis was turned out into the street by this man after being thrashed so badly that the police picked him up and took him to the station, thinking he was the victim of a severe random assault.
I myself had seen him barely able to walk or turn his head, presumably because he’d been so violently attacked by other passing lovers, and in George he had hoped to find a muscular East End ruffian who would punch and kick him within an inch of his life.
Instead, he found a confused and gentle young man whose clinginess often led to tensions between them.
Their relationship moved towards its tragic conclusion in 1971 when Francis received what he regarded as the greatest accolade of his career — being accorded the honour of a major exhibition in Paris.
This was where he most craved recognition, believing that the French were more demanding and discerning than any other nation when it came to art. Many of the portraits in the show were of George — caught in a black mirror, welded to a bicycle, corkscrewed to a chair.
On arriving in Paris, where I was working as a journalist, Francis told me that he’d only reluctantly brought his lover with him.
‘There’s been nothing between us for ages now but he asked whether he could come with me, and since he’s in so many of the pictures I could hardly say no.’
George had then only recently emerged from a rehab clinic where he’d sought a ‘cure’ for a severe drinking problem. Robbed of the oblivion he found in drink, he was clearly aware that he had lost Francis as well.
He looked pale and strained, and on the very day the show opened he took his own life, swallowing an overdose of sleeping pills in their hotel room.
Francis had been preparing for the exhibition at the time and told me he would never get over his guilt, both for leaving George alone that day, and for ever involving him in his world in the first place. ‘By giving him enough money to be able to do nothing, I took his incentive away,’ he said. ‘His stealing at least gave him a reason for living, and I should have left him exactly as he was. He’d have been in and out of prison, but at least he’d have been alive.’
In the aftermath of George’s death, Francis spent longer and longer periods in Paris, completing a series of profoundly moving paintings dedicated to the memory of his dead companion. During those two remaining decades of his life, our friendship deepened and his despair did not keep us from hitting Parisian high spots in determined fashion.
This took us from tea and dainty cucumber sandwiches at the Ritz to champagne in fashionable nightclubs such as Le Sept. This was a predominantly homosexual disco where Francis was greeted as a hero, even on crowded evenings when other celebrities such as the dancer Rudolf Nureyev and fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent were having supper.
There were star-studded parties, too, where guests included the likes of Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol — the latter responding mechanically to whatever you said with the words: ‘Gee, that’s great.’
In contrast to all this, one of our epic drinking bouts ended at a late-night bar in Paris, where porters from a food market would go for a quick brandy before hoisting sides of beef off lorries in their blood-smeared white overalls.
As Francis paid for each round, he pulled out a large ball of money, apparently not noticing the odd large note that fluttered into the sawdust on the floor — a performance that several meat porters followed with obvious interest.
When I finally decided I could drink no more, I bade him good-night. I have no idea whether he ended up with any of those porters.
But, for all his protestations that he’d never have another intimate relationship following George’s death, eventually there were other significant men in his life, including a Spaniard named Jose Capelo, 40 years younger than him.
A Madrid-based banker who spoke several foreign languages, he was a departure from what Francis described as the ‘brutes’ he usually found attractive.
It was with Jose that Francis turned up at Wiltons restaurant in Mayfair on a day when he and I had arranged to lunch together. We had made a firm date over the phone, but he looked surprised to see me and clearly thought that the two of them were eating alone.
By then he had turned 80 and his increasingly unreliable memory, along with a shortness of breath and alarmingly orange hair — the result of a bad dye-job — were all signs that he was fast ageing, something he had always dreaded.
‘Getting old is like having some deadly disease — and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,’ he said.
That was in 1990, and two years later I was in New York when I saw a newspaper headline announcing that he had died of a heart attack while on holiday with Jose in Spain.
He had left a body of work which is among the most expensive sold at auction today. It includes portraits of such notables as Lucian Freud and Mick Jagger, but the person he painted more than anyone else was his lover George Dyer.
One of the unlikeliest muses in art history, he was also among the most tragic. His fate reminds us that, for all the disquiet surrounding Bacon’s works, nothing he put on canvas could ever match the dark reality of his private life.
Jailed for murder as a member of the Kray brothers’ gang, Chris Lambrianou has seen life’s dark side, yet his collection of thoughts and meditations seek to lift the reader from his or her own high walls of captivity.
Do the Walls Come Down?: Reflections of a Lifer by Chris Lambrianou
Graham Sutherland, a mutual friend and artist, introduced Freud to Bacon in 1945, inviting them to his house. They formed a close friendship and saw much of one another in the following years.
Bacon had a great influence on the younger Freud and is often credited with liberating his style and fuelling his desire to depict human life.
In the early 1950s, the artists sat for each other; Bacon’s first portrait of Freud came in 1951, and many others followed. Freud painted Bacon just twice.
It was originally known as Tyneside Cyrenians and led by Canon Thomas Gaughan, head of Catholic social services, Brian Roycroft,former director of Newcastle social services, Frank Welsh and Frank Pollock, both members of the Society of St Vincent de Paul.
It began as a soup run each evening in the city but, when the extent of the homeless problem became evident, it opened its first hostel – based near Leazes Arcade, close to Newcastle’s Haymarket – in 1972.
Manned seven nights a week by volunteers, there was a nightly draw for the 24 beds at 6pm. Admission for the lucky ones was at 8pm and they got a meal and a clean bed. The doors re-opened between 5am and 9am the next morning for others to be admitted for a breakfast of porridge, soup, bread and tea. Between 1973 and 1974, further Cyrenians projects opened in St Edmund’s House, Gateshead, and Factory House in Walker, Newcastle.
Viscount Brentford, (Earl of March) the president of the Church Society, whose wife was a member of the Crown Appointments Commission which chose Dr WilliamsViscount Brentford, the president of the Church Society, whose wife was a member of the Crown Appointments Commission which chose Dr Williams.
The Duke held a number of senior positions in the Anglican church, including membership of the Church Synod and the World Council of Churches. He was also Chancellor of the University of Sussex from 1985 to 1998.
He and his wife Susan Monica Grenville-Grey, the Countess of March, attracted attention when they adopted two girls of mixed race in the 1960s at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment was running high and the interracial relationships were frowned upon.
Prisoners Abroad is a UK-registered human rights and welfare charity[1] which supports British citizens who are imprisoned overseas. It also works with ex-prisoners returning to the UK and family members and friends of those detained.
In 2007 Prisoners Abroad was awarded the Longford Prize,[3] awarded annually by the Longford Trust to “recognise the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform who/which has shown outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence and originality”.[4]
In 1977, Righton also participated in the London Medical Group’s annual conference, on this occasion the subject being ‘Human Sexuality’, speaking alongside agony aunt Claire Rayner amongst others (M. Papouchado, ‘Annual Conference of the LMG: Human Sexuality
In 1979, Righton sat on a steering committee to establish a course for training staff to work with disturbed young people, together with John Rea Price, director of Islington Social Services, 1972-92, subsequently the Director of the National Children’s Bureau. Other’s on the committee included G Godfrey Isaacs, chairman of Peper Harow, Mary Joynsons, director of child care for Barnardos, Janet Mattinson, Tavistock Centre, and Nick Stacey
William Clive [Bridgeman], 1st Viscount Bridgeman, JP DL PC
only son of Rev Hon John Robert Orlando Bridgeman, Rector of Weston-under-Lizard, co. Stafford (by his wife Marianne Caroline Clive, only dau. of Ven William Clive, Archdeacon of Montgomery), 3rd son by his first wife of George Augustus Frederick Henry [Bridgeman], 2nd Earl of Bradford
born
31 Dec 1864
mar.
30 Apr 1895 Dame Caroline Beatrix Parker DBE JP (d. 26 Dec 1961), 1st dau. of Hon Cecil Thomas Parker (by his wife Rosamond Esther Harriet Longley, dau. of Most Rev & Rt Hon C T Longley DD, Archbishop of Canterbury), 2nd son by his second wife of Thomas Augustus Wolstenholme [Parker], 6th Earl of Macclesfield
children
1. Hon Robert Clive Bridgeman, later2nd Viscount Bridgeman
2. Brig Hon Geoffrey John Orlando Bridgeman MC FRCS LRCP, of Watley House, Sparsholt, Winchester, co. Hampshire ,Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at St George’s Hospital (b. 3 Jul 1898; d. 15 Oct 1974), mar. 3 Jul 1929 Mary Meriel Gertrude Talbot (d. 5 Jul 1974), only dau. of Rt Hon Sir George John Talbot, and had issue:
1a. Robin John Orlando Bridgeman, later3rd Viscount Bridgeman
1a. Helena Mary Bridgeman (b. 2 Nov 1932), mar. (1) 18 Jul 1953 (div. 1963) as his first wife Hon Paul Asquith (b. 4 Jan 1927; d. 12 Nov 1984), 2nd son of Cyril [Asquith], Baron Asquith of Bishopstone (Life Peer), by his wife Anne Stephanie Pollock, 1st dau. of Sir Adrian Donald Wilde Pollock KCMG, and (2) 15 Jul 1963 James Francis Lesley Bayley, of Wassall Houzse, Rolvenden, cranbrook, co. Kent, son of Thomas Eliot Bayley, of Edinburgh, and has issue by both husbands
2a. Daphne Bridgeman (b. 9 Apr 1940), mar. 4 Dec 1965 as his second wife William Howard Clive Montgomery, of Grey Abbey, Newtownards, co. Down, 1st son of Maj Hugh Edward Montgomery DL, of Grey Abbey, co. Down, and has issue
3. Hon Sir Maurice Richard Bridgeman KBE, Chairman of British Petroleum 1960-69 (b. 26 Jan 1904; d. 18 Jun 1980), mar. 23 Feb 1933 Diana Mary Erica Wilson (d. in a motot accident 20 May 1979), 2nd dau. of Humphrey Minto Wilson, of 9 South Audley Street, London, and had issue
18 Jun 1929 Viscount Bridgeman, of Leigh in the County of Shropshire
suc. by
son
note
Private Secretary to the Colonial Secretary 1889-92 and the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1895-1902; Member of Parliament (Unionist) for Oswestry 1906-29; a Lord of the Treasury 1915-16; Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour 1916-19 and the Board of Trade 1919-20; Privy Councillor 1920; First Secretary for Mines 1920-22; Secretary of State for Home Affairs 1922-24; First Lord of the Admiralty 1924-29; Elder Brother of the Trinity House 1928
Robert Clive [Bridgeman], 2nd Viscount Bridgeman, KBE CB DSO MC JP DL
1. Hon Anne Caroline Mary Bridgeman (b. 30 Jul 1932), mar. 19 Jul 1955 Rev Nicholas David Stacey, of The Old Vicarage, Selling, Faversham, co. Kent (d. 8 May 2017), 1st son of David Henry Stacey, of Knaphill Manor, Chobham, co. Surrey, by his wife Isobel Part, and has issue
2. Hon Susan Elizabeth Bridgeman JP, Lady-in-Waiting to Lady May Abel-Smith, wife of the Governor of Queensland 1958-60 (b. 19 Oct 1935; d. 26 Aug 2013), mar. 1 Aug 1962 David Kenneth Dudley Foster, of The Spicer’s House, 101 Corve Street, Ludlow, co. Shropshire, 1st son of Kenneth Dudley Foster, of The Lodge, Claverley, co. Shropshire, and had issue
3. Hon Mary Selina Bridgeman JP (b. 14 Jan 1940), mar. 14 Jul 1962 Jeremy David Bagot Bayliss FRICS, of Sheepbridge Court, Swallowfield, Reading, co. Berkshire, only som of Edmund Bayliss, of Guernsey, Channel Islands, and has issue
died
s.p.m. 17 Nov 1982
suc. by
nephew
note
joined the Rife Brigade 1914 and served in the First World War 1915-18; MC 1918; Capt 1921, Brevet Maj 1932, Brigade Maj 1932-34, Brevet Lt Col 1935, General Staff Officer 1935-37; DSO 1940; CB 1944; KBE 1954
Robin John Orlando [Bridgeman], 3rd Viscount Bridgeman
born
5 Dec 1930
mar.
10 Dec 1966 (Victoria) Harriet Lucy Turton, 3rd dau. of Ralph Meredyth Turton, of Kildale Hall, Whitby, co. York, by his wife Mary Blanche Chetwynd-Stapylton, 1st dau. of Col Bryan Henry Chetwynd-Stapylton CBE
children
1. Hon William Orlando Caspar Bridgeman (b. 15 Aug 1968; dvp. 12 Nov 2000)
2. Hon Luke Robinson Orlando Bridgeman (b. 1 May 1971), mar. 25 May 1996 Victoria Frost, yst. dau. of Henry Frost, and has issue:
1a. Valentine Henry Ralph Orlando Bridgeman (b. 11 Oct 1999)
2a. Felix Bridgeman (b. 30 Mar 2002)
1a. Artemis Mary Rosalind Margaret Bridgeman (b. 12 Nov 2004)
3. Hon Esmond Francis Ralph Orlando Bridgeman (b. 3 Oct 1974)
4. Hon Orlando Henry Geoffrey Bridgeman (b. 11 Apr 1983)
note
elected to the House of Lords 1999
June 20 2003,
Mr Nunc Willcox
A memorial service for Mr Nunc Willcox, Chairman of the General Committee of the Garrick Club, 1983-95 and Trustee, 1983-2002, was held yesterday in the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, Savoy Hill, London, WC2. The Rev John Robson officiated. Mr Anthony Butcher, QC, read the lesson.
Mr Peter Horsfield, QC, read from The Idea of a University by John Henry Newman, and Mr Geoffrey Samson read In Praise of the Garrick Club by Kingsley Amis. Sir Paul Wright and Mr Jim Willcox, brother, paid tribute.
Former Archbishop, Donald Coggan, who died in 2000 and who ordained Ball in 1977, wrote: “I have seen a good deal of excellent qualities in his work. I have known him as a godly man, totally devoted to his church. He has had an unblemished record.”
Michael Ramsey (right), the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Donald Coggan, the Archbishop of Bradford, at the spring session of the Church Assembly, Church House, London, February 7th 1961.
The raping Bishop Ball was jailed in October after years of abusing youngsters .
He was able to get away with his crimes because, just as in the case of Savile , he was protected by friends in high places who were no doubt sharing in his sordid practices.
According to the Telegraph, a whole cohort of members of the British establishment came to Ball’s defence and appear to have committed perjury in the process, including the godfather of our own necrophiliac PM, David Cameron:
” A Freedom of Information request by the Telegraph has led to the release of the letters written by some high profile figures in his support, they include former Lord Justice Anthony Lloyd, former Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan and David Cameron’s late godfather Tory MP Tim Rathbone, who gave Mr Cameron his first work experience in the House of Commons.
Vicount Ian Kerr CGC @IanKerr
Dr Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Cantebury, Radio 1’s BBC Paris Theatre, Lower Regent Street, London. 30/04/1971
Archbishop’s treasure found in river
A number of valuable ecclesiastical treasures given to a former Archbishop of Canterbury have been found dumped in a river
A bronze given to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is one of the precious relics discovered by diver Trevor Bankhead, who was diving in the River Wear in Durham
3 Oct 2009
A haul of 32 artefacts, including gifts from Pope Paul VI and a commemorative medallion presented to the bishop for the Queen’s coronation in 1952, have been recovered from the River Wear in Durham.
They had been in the possession of Michael Ramsey, the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, who spent part of his retirement in the northern city where he served as bishop.
One theory is that he may have cast the items into the water himself at various times, having a reputation for eccentricity before his death 21 years ago at the age of 83.
Another suggestion is that they may have been stolen before being discarded by thieves for some reason as they crossed Prebends Bridge.
However, there is no record of the house where Ramsey and his wife Joan lived on South Bailey having been burgled.
The objects, some solid gold, have been discovered by amateur divers Trevor Bankhead, 40, and his brother Gary, 44, a fire service watch officer, over the past two and a half years.
They conducted 300 dives and believe there are no objects left on the river bed after their last find on Sunday.
It is their belief belief the items could have been put into the water deliberately as a “gift” to the city by Lord Ramsey.
Trevor Bankhead, a former soldier, said: “We believe the Archbishop threw them into the river in 1983 or 1984, by which time he would have had limited mobility.
“So we chose places which were easily accessible by the water’s edge and threw silver washers in the river to try and trace the trajectory the objects could have taken.”
The dives were carried out under licence from Durham Cathedral which owns both banks of the stretch of river.
Mr Bankhead added: “It’s been very exciting, not just finding the objects, but also researching them and being able to pin down the time when he would have received them.”
Their first find was an ornate silver trowel presented to the Archbishop for laying the foundation stone of an Indian church in 1961.
The brothers have since retrieved over 30 other items linked to Ramsey, along with hundreds of medieval and Saxon artefacts.
Among them are gold, silver and bronze medals struck to commemorate the second Vatican council, which must have been presented to Ramsey, who was the most senior cleric in the Church of England from 1961 to 1974, when he met Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1966.
It was during the same visit the Pope gave Ramsey his episcopal ring which the Archbishop wore until the day he died and is now kept at Lambeth Palace.
Other items discovered include a solid silver coin from the Greek Orthodox Church and a solid gold coin, likely to have been presented when Ramsey met Nikkyo Niwano, president of the Japanese Buddhist movement, in 1973.
Anne Heywood, chapter steward at Durham Cathedral, described the notion that Lord Ramsey may have been responsible as “pure speculation”.
She said: “We don’t know whether he might have had a burglary. Somebody might have thought these were worth something, and discovered when they were running across Prebends Bridge that they weren’t, and just threw them in the river – but again that is just pure speculation.”
Mark McIntosh, professor of divinity at Durham University, who was a student of Lord Ramsey, said the former Archbishop’s health declined in his later years.
He said: “My hunch would be that he would have had very little knowledge of where most of his things were at that point in his life as he was growing feebler by the day.”
The value of the items has still to be established, with estimates up to £10,000, and will be split between the cathedral and the brothers.
It is hoped some will eventually go on display at Durham’s 11th Century cathedral.
Rev Baker said they first met Knight in April 1983 when Knight moved to the village of Newick near Lewes in East Sussex
The contents of exhibits 204 and 205 were withheld from the public ear….Baker objected to a move for the text of two exhibits – an agreement signed by Knight and an addendum – to be read aloud.
DISCLAIMER: THE POSTING OF STORIES, COMMENTARIES, REPORTS, DOCUMENTS AND LINKS (EMBEDDED OR OTHERWISE) ON THIS SITE DOES NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, NECESSARILY EXPRESS OR SUGGEST ENDORSEMENT OR SUPPORT OF ANY OF SUCH POSTED MATERIAL OR PARTS THEREIN.
This is part of the English Benedictine Congregation case study and is within the wider investigation into the Roman Catholic Church. The report contains an update of the Ampleforth and Downside case studies, also part of the English Benedictine Congregation.
During five days of public hearings in February 2019, the Inquiry heard evidence from those who had been sexually abused as children at St Benedict’s School.
The report describes the atmosphere at St Benedict’s as sadistic and predatory with a culture of excessive corporal punishment. In many cases, physical abuse was used as a platform for sexual gratification and a means by which to instigate sexual abuse.
The report considers the evidence heard by the Inquiry of extensive sexual abuse against children in Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School and highlights the flawed responses to allegations, from both the Church and external institutions.
It considers how very senior figures at the school or abbey were perpetrators of abuse, with staff members warned to say nothing, leaving victims feeling they had nowhere to turn.
This led to a culture of abuse spanning over 30 years. Since 2003, four members of staff connected to St Benedict’s have been convicted of multiple offences for the sexual abuse of over 20 children. Another teacher was convicted of offences relating to the possession of indecent images of children in 2016. The total scale of abuse can never be known, but it is likely to be much greater.
“I often wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn’t been abused … I feel like I am still in a black hole and just can’t climb out of it. I don’t think I can ever put down in words fully what [Soper] has done to me. He has damaged me for life and I am afraid that that damage will never go away.” – RC-A622, Pen Portraits, page 8
The Inquiry received evidence of at least 18 further allegations against the men convicted and eight other monks and teachers. This ranged from corporal punishment to grooming, fondling of genitalia, masturbation, and oral and anal rape.
The report found that whilst there were significant opportunities to stop abusers in the school, these were not acted upon. Instead, a culture of cover-up and denial at Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s meant the abuse went on for decades.
The leadership failure of Abbot Martin Shipperlee is also highlighted in the report. It found serious shortcomings in his response to allegations and handling of child protection concerns, concluding that any action he did take was often inadequate and ill-judged.
During the Inquiry’s investigation into Ealing Abbey, Abbot Shipperlee resigned. He told the press:
“As the IICSA hearings have shown, there has been a series of serious failings in safeguarding and some of those failings have been mine. Much has been achieved to correct this in recent years and I have confidence in the present structures and policies. However this does not take away from the seriousness of what went before. In order for the Abbey to look forward with confidence new leadership is now needed and so I have resigned as Abbot so that this may be possible.” (Page 14)
The responses of external institutions are described as defective, resulting in children being left at risk of abuse or further abuse.
The Chair and Panel conclude that it remains to be seen whether Ealing Abbey proves itself capable of ensuring proper safeguarding of children at risk in future.
The report’s publication comes before the Inquiry’s final public hearing into the Roman Catholic Church, which will begin on the 28 October and will run for two weeks.
“For years, a culture of cover-up and denial meant children at Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School suffered appalling sexual and physical abuse.
“A reluctance to properly respond to safeguarding concerns meant significant opportunities to stop abusers were missed. When action was taken, the responses of senior staff, headmasters and external institutions were often poorly judged or flawed. As a result, children were left at risk of abuse which could have been stopped decades earlier.”
A particularly startling aspect of the sexual abuse perpetrated at the school was that very senior figures at the school or Abbey were abusers. David Pearce was the head of the junior school and then bursar; Laurence Soper was head of the middle school, bursar, Prior then Abbot. This created particular problems for those who wished to report sexual abuse – not only the victims, but also others, such as members of staff who heard rumours or observed behaviour that caused concern. Reporting such matters was therefore made more difficult by the seniority of those against whom the complaint would have been made. Staff members have described the atmosphere as feeling “like the mafia” and chose not to risk their jobs.[3]
Pearce was a serial abuser of boys. At least 14 pupils have complained to the statutory authorities of being sexually abused by him. Their allegations span a 32-year period from 1976 to 2008. In October 2009, Pearce was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment (reduced to five years on appeal in May 2010) for various sexual offences against five of these pupils. That was not the end of the matter, however, and in 2011 Pearce faced a further trial relating to indecent assaults against another pupil but was acquitted. In relation to the eight other boys, there was either no complaint made to the police or a decision made by the police/Crown Prosecution Service not to proceed.
It appears that many in the school and Abbey – teachers and monks alike – were aware of Pearce’s behaviour but were seemingly powerless to do anything about it. Gossip amongst the boys and staff was rife and complaints, including from parents, failed to trigger any action by the school or, in the rare event that information was communicated externally, by the statutory authorities. Staff were afraid that by speaking up they would lose their jobs. Pearce may well have been emboldened by this inertia as his abuse became less secretive, filming the boys at the swimming pool, lining them up naked and committing sexual assaults with apparent impunity. Unsurprisingly, Pearce was protected by Soper, but other Abbots and headmasters throughout this period also failed to act to protect children under their care.
Soper is known to have abused at least 10 children at St Benedict’s between 1972 and 1983, including multiple rapes. Many of the assaults were committed during acts of corporal punishment apparently inflicted on the slightest of pretexts. Soper’s predilection for caning boys was well known amongst the boys and staff at the school. He was told to stop by a previous headmaster at some point in the late 1970s or early 1980s. This had no effect, and he continued to cane and sexually assault boys on many occasions.
His campaign of sexual abuse was allowed to continue because of the inaction of those who had the power to do something to stop it or bring him to justice. By 2002 – two years after he had resigned as Abbot – Soper had been appointed general treasurer for the International Benedictine Conference in Rome, residing in Sant’Anselmo. Whilst on police bail in 2011, he left Sant’Anselmo, purportedly returning to London. He absconded and a European Arrest Warrant was issued. Some five years later he was located in Kosovo and extradited. In 2017, he was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment – over 40 years had elapsed since his offending began.
The role of Abbots
There were significant opportunities to stop abusers in the school which were not acted upon. When Abbot Martin Shipperlee took over as Abbot from Soper in 2000, many were hopeful that a “new broom”[4] had arrived. Indeed, some improvements to child protection were made. He commissioned a number of independent reports from experts.
David Tregaskis, a clinical criminologist with extensive experience of providing risk assessments, provided a report about the risk Pearce posed to children. He concluded that there was a “major concern” and “clear boundaries” should be placed upon him.[5] Although restrictions were placed upon Pearce, they were not monitored properly. In 2006, the sexual abuse committed by Pearce was established in a civil trial brought by one of his victims. Mr Justice Field said he found Pearce’s account “extremely unconvincing”[6] and the allegations were found proven. There were no changes to the restrictions already placed upon Pearce, although there could have been no doubt about the risk he posed. In the same year as the civil trial, Pearce started to sexually abuse a 16-year-old boy who was working in the monastery.
There were also limitations to the advice Abbot Shipperlee received from the Diocese of Westminster Child Protection Team. In particular, the advice provided in respect of imposing restrictions upon Pearce and others failed to give any guidance on how compliance with those restrictions should be enforced and monitored. The Child Protection Officer failed to keep the risk posed by Pearce and the restrictions in place under review, particularly following the successful civil claim. Pearce should have been required to leave Ealing Abbey – particularly given its proximity to the school.
When Pearce was convicted in 2009, Abbot Shipperlee commissioned a further review by Philip Wright, the safeguarding coordinator for the diocese of Brighton and Arundel and John Nixson, an independent child protection specialist. Despite the mounting child protection concerns against Soper and another monk, the review was confined to Pearce. There was no consideration of the underlying material. The whole exercise was limited to two days’ work. John Nixson in his written evidence to the Inquiry stated: “with the benefit of further reflection, it is now evident to me that Abbot Martin presented the existing concerns and findings about individual members of the religious community in a minimal manner”.[7]
The Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation in the period from 2001 to 2017, Dom Richard Yeo, did not significantly contribute to the response of Ealing Abbey to the allegations of child sexual abuse made in that period. During his 2007 Visitation he did not inquire into the restrictions upon Pearce and gave no consideration to issues of risk management. In his report to the monastic community, there was no express recognition of the fact that the judge in the civil proceedings in 2006 had found Pearce to be an unconvincing witness. He conceded that, in retrospect:
“I should probably have suggested at the 2007 Visitation that it was too serious a risk to allow … Pearce to continue to live in the monastery”.[8]
Throughout this time, public pressure was mounting. A series of articles appeared in The Times, the Charity Commission published a critical report, public disquiet gained momentum through Jonathan West’s blog, the Independent Schools Inspectorate had published a follow-up report which was critical of Trustees, and the Minister of State for Schools was seeking “assurance that all ISI’s recommendations will be implemented”.[9]
In the light of these pressures, Lord Carlile of Berriew QC was commissioned in 2010 to prepare a report. Abbot Shipperlee submitted five principles for reform which Lord Carlile accepted. He firmly stated, however, that reforms could not take place under the auspices of a single trust and recommended the creation of two separate charitable trusts – in effect separating the school from the Abbey. St Benedict’s School became truly independent of Ealing Abbey on 1 September 2012.
During the Inquiry’s investigation into Ealing Abbey, Abbot Shipperlee resigned. He admitted to the Inquiry “as has been serially revealed, my administration of safeguarding is of insufficient standard”.[10]
The role of headmasters
Headmasters as well as Abbots played a significant role in managing child protection issues. Christopher Cleugh, during his time as headmaster of the school between 2002 and 2016, repeatedly minimised questions of child sexual abuse to teachers and to external institutions and parents, to the point of materially misrepresenting significant facts. Although he told the Independent Schools Inspectorate that one of the monks had been charged with an assault on a pupil doing work experience in the monastery, he did not tell them that Pearce had been under restrictions at the time, nor did he tell them about the successful civil action against Pearce. He did not address safeguarding issues openly and proactively; when answers were given, he was defensive. One former teacher, Peter Halsall, said the previous culture of cover-up and denial at the school was “followed … by passing the buck”.[11]
Andrew Johnson, who was appointed headmaster in 2016, described a number of improvements to safeguarding, including record-keeping and vetting, compulsory reporting to Ealing Social Services, safeguarding training for staff, information for students and parents, and the operation of the safeguarding sub-committee. He also outlined that he had commissioned an audit report from Philip Threlfall, an independent safeguarding consultant, who concluded that the school was committed to safeguarding and that the “right things are in place”.[12] In order for these changes to have a long-term impact, it will now be for those in responsibility at the school to remain vigilant so as to ensure that safeguarding remains a priority.
The role of external agencies
The Metropolitan Police made mistakes in how some of the early allegations against Pearce and Soper were investigated. For example, in 2001, one of the victims told the police that Pearce had forcibly grabbed his trousers and pants and looked down into his pants, and that Pearce had put his hands down the swimming trunks of another boy, “for a couple of seconds having a feel around”.[13] In July 2002, the police decided to take that case no further, the investigating officer concluding “I have been unable to find evidence of any criminal offences”.[14] This approach was unreasonable. Commander Neil Jerome, in his evidence to us, agreed. There were also failures in respect of the investigation into the allegations against Pearce in respect of another boy, including a failure to provide all relevant information to the Crown Prosecution Service when a prosecution decision was sought.
The Crown Prosecution Service shares some responsibility for the fact that neither Pearce nor Soper were prosecuted in 2004, when serious allegations were made by two victims against them. It was not until 2009 and 2017 that Pearce and Soper were convicted of the abuse. In the Crown Prosecution Service decision regarding one victim’s allegations against Pearce, the reviewing lawyer wrongly adopted a requirement for corroboration. Likewise, in the decision concerning another victim’s allegations against Soper, the Crown Prosecution Service lawyer took the view that a victim’s word against a perpetrator was insufficient to found a prosecution instead of considering whether the victim’s account could be supported by other evidence or whether Soper’s account could be undermined.
There were also deficiencies in the consideration of the situation at Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School by those external bodies charged with regulating the management of charities (the Charity Commission) and inspecting independent schools (the Independent Schools Inspectorate). The Charity Commission was undertaking a statutory inquiry into Ealing Abbey’s handling of Pearce at the very time when he was committing further child sexual abuse. The Commission’s conclusion at the time, that appropriate steps were being taken, was based on assurances given by Ealing Abbey, which were not scrutinised or tested. Likewise, the Independent Schools Inspectorate oversaw an inspection in 2009 which concluded that the child protection policy was compliant with statutory guidance, and that an independent review into Pearce’s offending had been conducted and its advice fully implemented: both conclusions were wrong. The 2009 report was withdrawn in April 2010 and an unannounced, non-routine further inspection was carried out, resulting in a critical report of August 2010. But for the fact that members of the public drew the deficiencies of the 2009 report to the Commission’s attention, there may have been no such rectification of the position.
It is notable that in 2010 the Department for Education did not have the statutory power to enforce a recommendation made by the Independent Schools Inspectorate to the effect that monks who had been the subject of allegations should not reside at Ealing Abbey. As a result, the Minister for Schools wrote to the Charity Commission in October 2010 to see if the Charity Commission might be able to use its powers to enforce compliance in this regard. The position is now different. From January 2015 changes to the statutory standards by which independent schools are judged have rectified this gap in the Department’s powers.
The role of the Holy See
Prior to the hearing, the Inquiry sought a witness statement and documentation from the Holy See, initially through a voluntary request to its diplomatic representative in the United Kingdom, the Apostolic Nuncio, who is covered by diplomatic immunity. The request included asking what steps were taken after Soper’s disappearance that might have assisted in locating him. The Holy See has confirmed that it does not intend to provide a witness statement but has provided some documentation which is being reviewed and may be considered further, if necessary, during the hearings we are holding in October and November 2019. https://www.iicsa.org.uk/publications/investigation/english-benedictine-congregation-ealing-abbey/part-1-ealing-abbey-and-st-benedicts-school/executive-summary
Feb 25 2109
The hearings have become a case study exposing the many systemic obstacles to safeguarding of pupils in the English Benedictine Order (EBO) and the wider Catholic Church, in no small measure as a direct result of control imposed by the Vatican.
Extent of abuse
Serious abuse of pupils that was not reported to the civil authorities has been found in every EBO school in England and the outlying one at Fort Augustus, remote in the Scottish highlands. Fort Augustus has since been closed, having been described in a BBC documentary as a “‘dumping ground’ for problem clergy who had confessed to abusing children“.
Abuse reported to the Ealing Inquiry included “excessive physical chastisement – sometimes apparently for sexual gratification, grooming; fondling of genitalia; anal penetration; and rape”.
Lawyers believed that “since World War II… hundreds of boys were molested at St Benedict’s”. “Monks had been behaving this way at the school for 60 consecutive years to 2010. … [I]t was part of the culture”. Given this and the Inquiry alone learning of 66 allegations, it is plausible that thousands have been abused there since the foundation in 1902 of the school dubbed “one of Britain’s most notorious dens of paedophilia“.
Notably, “at Ealing, the sexual abuse was perpetrated by those at the very top of the organisation”, for many decades. This meant abuse could be perpetrated with impunity which also “turned St Benedict’s into a honeypot for other [abusers]”.
The Vatican Bank withheld the address of Soper on the run from the police. Tellingly, that he had provided it to the bank suggests Soper’s total confidence it would not be divulged, i.e. total confidence the Vatican would defy requests by European police to identify an absconder. That adds to the Vatican’s shameless record as a haven for those fleeing justice.
The latest conviction, once more of a senior master, is Dr Peter Allott, jailed in 2016 for possessing nearly 400 obscene images of children (found in the school but not of Ealing pupils) and class A drugs to which he had become addicted. He was deputy headmaster and had been teaching there since 2004. Allott’s conviction makes it rather harder to claim that such abuse is solely a historic problem.
Most telling of all was that until recently, the school fought shamelessly with all its tenacity to retain the ability not to report abuse complaints to civil authorities where parents or pupils did not wish to do so.
A lawyer testified that “on the very same day, you have a survivor of the kind of abuse on which the report focused being threatened by a member of [headteacher] Cleugh’s staff in the street near the school”. He quoted the survivor: “While I was being interviewed, a car appeared and mounted the pavement, narrowly missing the cameraman. The doors flew open and a man I subsequently learned was a teacher at St Benedict’s leapt out, accompanied by a shaven-headed security thug, and started ranting and raving about trespassing on school property [which it was not].” The inquiry learned that a complaint to Mr Cleugh about this did not even elicit an explanation, far less an apology.
Ealing Abbey abbot resigns over failure to investigate child abuse allegations
8 Feb 2019
The abbot of Ealing Abbey has resigned over a failure to investigate child sexual abuse allegations at a London school amid an escalating diplomatic row prompted by the papal nuncio’s reluctance to cooperate with a public inquiry.
The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) was informed on Friday that Dom Martin Shipperlee, who had been abbot since 2000 and taught at St Benedict’s School in west London, had given up his responsibilities.
His abrupt departure comes immediately after he appeared before the inquiry, answering questions about how he handled allegations of sexual abuse against monks and teachers at the school dating back decades.
Two senior monks and teachers, Andrew Soper and David Pearce, were jailed for a series of offences against pupils at the school. Soper, who was found guilty of 19 rapes and sexual offences at St Benedict’s, fled to Kosovo at one stage in an attempt to escape justice.
The public inquiry has written to the pope’s representative in Britain, the archbishop Edward Adams, asking him to disclose details of his handling of complaints about Catholic schools in England and Wales and specifically relating to investigations at Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s school.
The papal nuncio has so far failed to comply and declined to comment about the requests. David Enright, a solicitor at the law firm Howe and Co who represents 18 victims of abuse by Catholic priests and monks, who are taking part in IICSA, has written to Theresa May asking her to expel Adams if he does not comply.
In a statement to the Guardian, the Foreign Office confirmed it was investigating the papal nuncio’s position. A spokesperson said: “The government takes the issue of child protection extremely seriously. We fully support the IICSA inquiry and are looking into this matter further.”
The inquiry was told on Thursday that the nuncio was consulting with his superiors in Rome. Downing Street has not yet commented on the diplomatic standoff.
Shipperlee’s resignation was announced at the child sexual abuse inquiry on Friday by Dom Christopher Jamison, the head of the Benedictine Order in England. “This morning I received a letter from Abbot Martin Shipperlee offering me his resignation with immediate effect as abbot of Ealing,” he said.
Dom Martin Shipperlee faced questioning over handling of sexual abuse claims at school
Head of Catholic order failed to tell police of sexual abuse at London school
Abbot ‘did not know’ if findings at Benedictine school were relevant, national inquiry told
23 Feb 2017
The head of one of the country’s most powerful Catholic orders was made aware of sex abuse allegations dating back to the 1970s at one of its schools but did not alert the authorities – contrary to the recommendations of a church commission on which he sat.
The wide-ranging Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse has been shown a handwritten document compiled by Abbot Richard Yeo, who as president of the Benedictines conducted an inquiry at St Benedict’s School in Ealing, west London, in June 2010 following reports that there had been widespread abuse of pupils by teachers and monks.
The year before Yeo’s visit, Father David Pearce, the former head of the junior school, had been jailed for eight years – reduced to five on appeal –after being found guilty of abusing five boys over a 36-year period.
According to notes Yeo took when he visited St Benedict’s, and which will soon be uploaded on to the inquiry’s website, many at the school had been concerned about Pearce decades before he was jailed. Yeo’s notes state: “Mid 70s knew David engaged in dubious activities.” Another monk told him: “Knew since I was junior school head there was something wrong. Graffiti ‘Fr David is bent’.” A third said he was aware of rumours of abuse when he arrived 25 years ago, and expressed disbelief that a former abbot claimed to Yeo he “never knew anything about it”.
The Catholic church’s failure to confront systemic clerical sexual abuse was acknowledged last week at an unprecedented summit on the issue opened by Pope Francis, attended by 180 bishops and cardinals. “The holy people of God are watching and expect not just simple and obvious condemnations, but efficient and concrete measures to be established,” he warned.
Yeo, who stood down as president of the Benedictines in 2017, told the inquiry he did not pass his 2010 notes on to the police because Pearce had already been jailed and that he did not know if they had any evidential value.
But Richard Scorer, specialist abuse lawyer at Slater & Gordon, who is representing several of the victims at the school, and referred to Yeo’s note in a blogpost, said it was not for the abbot to determine what was relevant to the inquiry. He described Yeo’s failure to share his notes with the police as remarkable given that he had been a member of the 2007 Cumberlege commission, the Catholic church’s review of its child safeguarding policies in England and Wales.
“The Cumberlege commission report from 2007 is clear that ‘all allegations of abuse are required to be reported to the statutory authorities who must decide whether a statutory investigation is required,’” Scorer said. “Yeo was a member of this commission, yet when allegations of abuse came into his possession in 2010 he failed to follow the Cumberlege commission’s own rules and report them to the statutory authorities. This demonstrates yet again that senior figures in the Catholic church are happy to ignore the church’s own rules when it suits them and self-policing in the Catholic church always fails.”
Jonathan West, the father of a former pupil, who was instrumental in raising concerns, said repeated failure to investigate abuse at the school highlighted the need for mandatory reporting, which would require all staff working with children to report concerns about the welfare of a child to the local authority.
“Mandatory reporting would make it almost impossible for a long-running situation such as occurred at St Benedict’s to happen,” West said. “First, there will inevitably be a greater climate of awareness making reporting more likely. And second, no head teacher is going to risk being prosecuted for suppressing a report of somebody else abusing. These two factors will make it extremely dangerous for abusers to operate in schools. They won’t dare. Abuse will be prevented as a result.”
The inquiry has heard that there were numerous warning signs which should have triggered intervention.
Katherine Ravenscroft, a drama teacher, said that when she joined the school in 1990, “it was spoken about quite freely among the boys in the school that Father David Pearce would oversee swimming while they were in the junior school and that he would line the boys up naked after swimming to feel them in order to check that they were dry”.
Ravenscroft told the inquiry in a statement now published on its website that there were also rumours about Abbot Laurence Soper – who was convicted in 2017 of 19 charges of rape and other sexual offences against 10 boys at the school.
Ravenscroft raised her concerns with police the same year. When she told the new headmaster, Christopher Cleugh, that she wished she had reported the concerns about Pearce earlier, she said he responded: “You can rest assured he will seek absolution for his sins.”
Ravenscroft said it seemed child protection at the school was not taken seriously until its deputy head master, Peter Allott, was sentenced in 2016. “It still seemed as if things were being brushed to one side,” she said in her statement.
Penny Jones, a deputy director of the independent education and school governance division in the Department for Education, said in 2010 ministers were alarmed to learn monks who had committed sexual offences were still living in Ealing Abbey next to the school. “We lacked the powers necessary to require the abbot to remove monks who had offended from the abbey, as the power to remove monks fell [outside] DfE’s jurisdiction,” Jones told the inquiry.
Who knew about the abuse at St Benedict’s? The entire Catholic Church
Feb 17 2019
At the child sexual abuse inquiry Stephen Bleach sees the truth emerge about the school where he and other boys were harmed. And it hits him: the instinct to shield paedophiles was endemic
Earlier this month the inquiry spent five days examining the appalling record of child abuse at Ealing Abbey, west London, and the school it ran, St Benedict’s — where I was a pupil in the 1970s.
One thing that became clear at the @InquiryCSA hearing was how outsiders with concerns were frozen out and ignored (and even accused of anti-Catholic motives) while commissioning advice from people (like Lord Carlile) who said what they wanted to hear, that all is well now.
Had Carlile been right in saying that, there wouldn’t have been so much still to be discovered in the inquiry hearing and there would have been no need for the Abbot (who commissioned Carlile) to resign before the hearing had even finished.
Catholic Abbot RESIGNS after he admits didn’t report priest jailed for child sex offence
THE Abbot of a Benedictine abbey has resigned after it emerged he withheld an allegation of abuse from police about a priest who was later jailed for child sex offences committed while teaching at a leading Catholic school.
Abbot Shipperlee stated in his resignation letter: “My administration of safeguarding as has been serially revealed, has been of an insufficient standard.”
To which Abbot Jamieson said: “In light of this I have accepted his resignation.”
David Pearce and Laurence Soper, two Benedictine monks from the abbey who taught at the £16,845-a-year school, were jailed in 2009 and 2017 for historic child abuse offences.
Abbot Shipperlee last week admitted to the IICSA he failed to report a claim of abuse against Soper to the police when informed of it in 2001.
Laurence Soper was jailed for 18 years at the Old Bailey in December 2017
He said: “Because I simply did not believe that this was possible.
“I was outraged that such an accusation could be made against someone of whom I – well, it did not occur to me that it was possible that this sort of thing could happen.”
Reacting to news of his resignaiton, Mr O’Donnell, representing Jonathan West, said: “Under the circumstances, it seems sensible to us that Abbot Shipperlee has tended his resignation, but we do ask the question whether this would have happened if he had not given evidence to the Inquiry.”
“In the current era, can parents really trust Catholic organisations to take care of their children.”
In October 2009, Pearce, a former junior school head master at St Benedict’s, was jailed for eight years for abuse at the school from 1972 to 1992, as well as one offence in 2007.
Soper, the former Abbot, was jailed for 18 years at the Old Bailey in December 2017 after being on the run for five years.
He was arrested in Kosovo and extradited to the UK, where he was convicted of 19 counts of child sex abuse.
In a witness statement to the inquiry last Thursday, Abbot Shipperlee said he was unaware of receiving any complaints against Laurence Soper between 1980 and 2001.
During today’s inquiry, Imran Khan QC on behalf of G2, said: “It has taken a great deal of courage and resilience for victims and survivors who have clearly been traumatised for sharing their accounts with us.”
While Alan Collins representing G1 and G3 to G6 said: ”If there is no change, the risk of child abuse in Catholic organisations will continue.”
When speaking about lessons learnt, Abbot Jamieson told the inquiry: “The need to stop being self referential, moving beyond that, I want know what is it about the Catholic culture that seems to have facilitated a culture of abuse.”
“It is clear that the Vatican Bank were facilitating Soper’s flight from justice and failed to hand over information which would have assisted the police in locating him… this gives the lie to the Pope’s claims to want to root out abusers in the church”.
Catholic Abbot didn’t report abuse allegation against priest jailed for child sex offences
THE Abbot of a Benedictine abbey withheld an allegation of abuse from police about a priest who was later jailed for child sex offences committed while teaching at a leading Catholic school, an inquiry heard this week.
Feb 8, 2019
Abbot Martin Shipperlee
Abbot Martin Shipperlee of Ealing Abbey was head of St Benedict’s Junior School in West London from 1993 to 2000. David Pearce and Laurence Soper, two Benedictine monks from the abbey who taught at the £16,845-a-year school, were jailed in 2009 and 2017 for historic child abuse offences. Two ex-teachers who taught at the school at the time of the sex-abuse allegations described the institution then as “a bit like the mafia”.
Abbot Shipperlee admitted to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) he failed to report an allega
tion of abuse against Soper to the police child protection team when informed of it in 2001.
He said: “Because I simply did not believe that this was possible.
“I was outraged that such an accusation could be made against someone of whom I – well, it did not occur to me that it was possible that this sort of thing could happen.”
In October 2009, Pearce, a former junior school head master at St Benedict’s, was jailed for eight years for abuse at the school from 1972 to 1992, as well as one offence in 2007.
Soper, the former Abbot, was jailed for 18 years at the Old Bailey in December 2017 after being on the run for five years.
He was arrested in Kosovo and extradited to the UK, where he was convicted of 19 counts of child sex abuse.
In a witness statement to the inquiry on Thursday, Abbot Shipperlee said he was unaware of receiving any complaints against Laurence Soper between 1980 and 2001.
The inquiry heard a statement from a mother, whose four-year-old son was going to St Benedict’s junior school around 1997, saying a staff member had warned her about both Soper a
She wrote: “A senior member of the office staff approached me and told me not to leave my son, who would have been four at the time, on his own in the office at any time when Father David or Abbot Laurence were there.
“The person then told me that the child would be safer because they preferred boys with blond hair and blue eyes.
“The person then told me that Father David had been moved from the junior school to keep him away from the younger boys.”
In October 2001, the Archdiocese of Westminster wrote to Abbot Shipperlee with a victim’s claim of abuse by Soper.
David Pearce and Laurence Soper taught at St Benedicts School when the abuse took place (Image: NC)
A further letter in December, 2001 from the Archdiocese to Abbot Shiperlee said “the serious claim against Abbot Laurence Soper should be reported to the child protection team at Ealing Police Station”.
Inquiry counsel Riel Karmuy-Jones, QC, asked Abbot Shipperlee why he still had not informed the police despite being advised to do so.
He replied he was “convinced in my own mind it must be a spurious claim”.
Ms Karmuy-Jones said: “You took the view that your opinion of the situation had more weight than the opinion of the Diocese of Westminster?”
Abbot Shipperlee said: “Yes. I was wrong.”
Ms Karmuy-Jones replied: “Is that how you have approached safeguarding during your time?”
Abbot Shipperlee said: “No, you can see plenty of times when I have not done that, but you do have to make the judgment yourself.”
Despite not telling the police, Abbot Shipperlee went on to warn Bassingbourn Barracks – where Soper acted as chaplain in the army training regiment in 2002 – about the allegation.
In 2004, another allegation of rape and corporal punishment was made against Soper from the 1970s.
Abbot Shipperlee admitted not asking for a risk assessment about Soper as he “didn’t think it necessary”.
On Wednesday, the inquiry heard statements from two ex-teachers who described St Benedict’s at the time of the abuse allegations as “a bit like the mafia”.
One teacher said in a statement “if anybody complained or said anything about Pearce, Laurence Soper would protect him and to complain meant putting your job on the line.
“There had been a number of complaints against Pearce.”
Laurence Soper went on the run in Kosovo but was arrested in 2016 and extradited to UK (Image: NC)
A senior accounts assistant, who worked from 1995 to 2005, said she was warned by St Benedict’s head master, Dr Dachs after complaining about Pearce’s behaviour.
In a statement, she said: “On most Friday afternoons when I was on my own in the office, Father David would bring two or three boys to his office.
“He would shut the door and cover the glass window in the door with paper so that nobody could see into the office.
“I can’t remember how old they were, but they were not from the junior school, so would have been 11 or older.
“I was concerned about this so I contacted the headmaster, Dr Dachs. He told me, ‘If you know what’s good for you, keep your head down and do your job’.
“A short time later, I was talking to Abbot Laurence and I mentioned my concerns to him.
“He told me not to worry because the allegations against Father David were unfounded.
“I said that he was still around boys and Abbot Laurence said that Father David ‘just liked little boys’.
“I asked why Father David had been moved from the junior school and he said because he was ‘a sick man’.”
Abbot Shipperlee also told the panel he “did nothing” despite hearing Pearce had “a preference for blond children”.
The inquiry heard Pearce is now living in a flat and has his rent paid by Ealing Abbey through “charitable funds”.
The IICSA is the largest ever Government inquiry and is expected to last until at least 2020.
It is looking at 13 different investigations, including the Catholic Church.
The witness concludes his evidence by giving a short statement. “Since WW2 we reckon that hundreds of boys were molested at St Benedict’s. If this country had mandatory reporting like the legislation currently in draft, hundreds of those wouldn’t have been abused.”
@Richard_Scorer
V clear from evidence at @inquiryCSA that Abbot of Ealing (Shipperlee) delayed in providing crucial information to police which wd have assisted in apprehending paedophile priest Laurence Soper, who had fled to Kosovo. Shows how hollow are Catholic Church “apologies” to victims
Also revealed in @inquiryCSA today – a “lack of appetite” on part of Vatican to assist with apprehension of paedophile priest Soper. Vatican Bank had his secret address in Kosovo #EBCHearing
Jonathan West@JonathanWest:
One of the Ealing monks was also chaplain of another local catholic independent school, St Augustine’s Priory School for Girls.
Even after this monk had to resign as a trustee & governor of St Benedict’s and was placed on “restricted ministry” because of allegations of abuse, he remained chaplain & governor of St A for some months.
Was St Augustine’s aware of this? How is a school chaplaincy consistent with restricted ministry of a monk put in place because of concerns for the safety of children?
There is the fact that Lord Carlile’s review made no new recommendations concerning safeguarding at the school. he merely repeated recommendations previously made by the ISI and a previous review commissioned by the Abbey
Why? Did Carlile think safeguarding was now adequate? If so on the basis of what knowledge or expertise in the subject did he reach that conclusion?
In 2009 when all this first started coming to light, St Benedict’s school safeguarding policy was one long excuse for never reporting anything to anybody. Why did it get into that state, and why did it take years to reform it so that all concerns are reported to the authorities?
CourtNewsUK@CourtNewsUK
Soper is unrepentant and claims he has suffered a ‘serious miscarriage of justice’.
Ex-priest Laurence Soper jailed for sexually abusing boys
21 Dec 2017
An ex-Catholic priest who abused boys at a London school in the 1970s and 1980s has been jailed for 18 years.
Laurence Soper, 74, fled to Kosovo with £182,000 from the Vatican bank in a bid to avoid prosecution for abusing boys at the independent St Benedict’s School, in Ealing, where he taught.
He was extradited to face 19 charges of indecent and serious sexual assault against 10 former pupils.
He is the fourth man to be convicted of molesting children at the school.
Sentencing, Judge Anthony Bate said Soper’s conduct was “the most appalling breach of trust” and he had “subverted the rules of the Benedictine order and teachings of the Catholic Church”.
He said the former abbot and headmaster’s life would now be “overshadowed by the proven catalogue of vile abuse”.
Prosecutor Gillian Etherton QC told how the victims were subjected to “sadistic” beatings by Soper for “fake reasons” and on many occasions “with what can only have been a sexual motive”.
The “reasons” included kicking a football in the wrong direction, failing to use double margins and using the wrong staircase.
St Benedict’s apologised unreservedly for the “serious wrongs of the past”.
Soper’s victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were supported by relatives in court when he was sentenced earlier.
One victim suffered from nightmares and flashbacks after the abuse, but chose not to come forward out of fear of more beating, the jury heard during the trial.
Five convicted child sex offenders at one school. That is too many for it to be a coincidence. In time, those in charge of the abbey and the school will have to account for their failure to protect the children in their care. They will have to do so in public under oath, questioned by lawyers at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA). They have been required to provide copies of all relevant documents to the public inquiry. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have already started rehearsing their answers.
One thing that the monks of Ealing will have to explain is how they not only harboured several criminal paedophiles within their ranks, but actually managed to elect a prolific child abuser as their leader. Laurence Soper was of course Abbot of Ealing from 1991 to 2000.
From the 1950s until well into this century, a succession of paedophiles and sadists were in positions of authority over young boys at St Benedict’s. They enjoyed themselves to the full.
Soper is the fifth teacher from the school to be convicted on charges relating to child abuse. Serious complaints have been made about others. The school was run by the Benedictine monks of Ealing Abbey.
Britain’s Benedictines have an extraordinary record of founding schools and then abusing the children who attend them.
A day after Soper’s conviction it was revealed that Aidan Bellenger, a former abbot of Downside Abbey in Somerset, believed that his three predecessors had tolerated child abuse and had sheltered “perverse and criminal” paedophiles at Downside School.
The week before, the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse heard of beatings and sexual assault on boys as young as six at Ampleforth in North Yorkshire. It has become a bit of a tradition.
I agree, sometimes superiors can be abusers as well. The monks of Ealing Abbey managed to elect an abuser as their Abbot. Fr Laurence Soper will be sentenced on Thursday after being convicted last week of 19 child abuse charges.
Downside head ‘may have burnt evidence of sexual abuse’
16 DEC 2017
Five years ago, the headmaster of a leading public school made trips with a loaded wheelbarrow to a distant part of its grounds, where he made a bonfire. Consumed in its flames were staff files dating back to the early 1980s.
Father Leo Maidlow Davis destroyed files
Father Leo Maidlow Davis, 63, is today the senior monk at Downside Abbey. In 2012 he was in charge of its neighbouring boarding school. The fire may have destroyed evidence of child sexual abuse. The monk was one of the senior Benedictines who gave evidence during three weeks of hearings that ended yesterday at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
Their focus was two fee-paying schools, Downside, in Somerset, and Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, chosen by the inquiry as a case study in its wider investigation into the Catholic church. Sworn testimony came from monks, former pupils, lay staff, police officers and safeguarding experts. No school bonfire could cleanse the sins they revealed.
In his opening statement a lawyer representing abuse survivors warned of the “beguiling charm” of lauded schools in beautiful surroundings, where robed monks invited and received a high degree of trust. Such institutions promised “a Harry Potter world” that hid, in the words of a former Downside abbot, a “heart of darkness”.
At Ampleforth, about 40 monks and teachers have been accused of sexually abusing children since the 1960s. When police investigated sex offences at Downside in 2010, it emerged that “historic allegations and concerns” had been raised about 16 of its 23 monks.
The inquiry heard of a locked basement room at Downside, used by monks to watch personal videos. It learnt of brown envelopes containing allegations against monks that were locked in the abbot’s safe. Victims described childhood ordeals. Naked boys were taken into monks’ beds. Some were abused so often that it became routine. It was a world in which paedophiles flourished.
That there were child sex crimes at boarding schools is no secret. What shocked observers were the measures taken by Benedictine leaders to protect child abusers. From the Children Act 1989 onwards, the “paramountcy principle” has been central to safeguarding: the welfare of a child must be the primary consideration. The inquiry heard that when a Benedictine was accused of sex abuse it was often the monk’s welfare that took priority.
Each Benedictine monastery is self-governing, headed by an abbot who, within its grounds, holds the place of Christ. Father Timothy Wright, abbot of Ampleforth from 1997 to 2005, wrote in a letter in 2003 that for monastic brethren the abbot was a “trusted confidante”. Father Timothy’s relationship with police and social services was described by his successor, Father Cuthbert Madden, as “very uneasy, if not profoundly secretive”.
Father Charles Fitzgerald-Lombard, abbot of Downside from 1990 to 1998, was asked to whom the abbot was answerable. “Apart from the Almighty, not a lot,” he said, explaining that abbots since medieval times have enjoyed “more or less the status of bishops within their own territory”, which was “a sort of exempt enclave”.
Father Charles, 76, was among three Downside abbots accused by Father Aidan Bellenger, in a private letter, of tolerating child abuse. Father Aidan, abbot from 2006 to 2014, said his predecessors “protected and encouraged” paedophile monks.
Wrongdoers at both schools, including Father Anselm Hurt, brother of the late actor John Hurt, were quietly moved between Benedictine monasteries and parishes.
Reference was made to instructions from Rome to destroy documents that were damaging to priests. Father Leo insisted that his decision to make a bonfire of Downside’s staff files was prompted by a desire to “get rid of unnecessary old material”. He accepted that the files should, under safeguarding requirements, have been kept for 70 years, conceding that he may have unintentionally destroyed information about child abuse.
Richard Scorer, a child abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon who represents 29 survivors of Benedictine abuse, said the hearings exposed an organisation “pervaded by casual disregard for the most basic norms of child protection”.
The inquiry is due to produce an interim report next year.
Ampleforth in Charity Commission takeover amid concerns of its management of sex abuse allegations
3 April 2018
Ampleforth Abbey has been stripped of responsibility for pupil welfare by the Charity Commission amid concerns about its management of sex abuse allegations.
The Commission has removed responsibility for safeguarding matters from trustees at the prestigious boarding school as it said it had not improved its policies enough since an inquiry into the charity following allegations of sexual abuse was launched in 2016.
It said it had taken action “as a result of continued concerns about the extent to which current safeguarding risks to pupils at the schools run by the charities are being adequately managed”.
Ampleforth Abbey runs a 200-year-old religious community on the same site as Ampleforth College in Yorkshire, which is run by the St Laurence Education Trust. St Laurence also runs prep school St Martin’s Ampleforth, which announced its closure earlier this year.
Last year the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse heard that allegations of sexual abuse had been made against 40 monks and teachers who had previously lived or worked at the Catholic boarding school and religious community.
Emma Moody, a specialist charity lawyer at Womble Bond Dickinson, has now been appointed as interim manager of both charities.
Child abuse ‘tolerated’ and ‘indirectly encouraged’ by former Downside Abbey abbots
12 December 2017
‘The heart of darkness in the [Downside] community is the issue of child abuse, which was tolerated by all my predecessors as abbot’
Downside Abbey “tolerated” and “indirectly encouraged” child abuse by protecting monks who sexually abused children, a former abbot has claimed.
Aidan Bellenger, who retired as Abbot in 2014, accused his three predecessors of tolerating child abuse in letters read to the inquiry. He also alleged that the Somerset monastery still harbours paedophiles, raising questions about the behaviour of three monks.
The letters were also sent to the chairman of the Abbey’s board of governors, Father Leo Maidlow Davis last year. The current headmaster, Dr James Whitehead, told the inquiry he was shown the letters in August 2017.
“It is a very serious concern that he’s raising here, potentially, that these abbots may have actually encouraged paedophilia,” he told the inquiry.
Their contents were disclosed on the eighth day of a three-week hearing on the English Benedictine Congregation as part of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
“At the heart of darkness in the [Downside] community is the issue of child abuse, which was tolerated by all my predecessors as abbot,” wrote Bellenger.
Richard Yeo (left)
Father Richard Yeo
Among the former abbots named by Bellenger, is Father Richard Yeo, abbot from 1998 until 2006. Bellenger said he “should have known better” and accused him of trying to protect two monks, Father Richard White (known as Father Nicholas) and Father Desmond O’Keefe, who were subsequently jailed for sexual offences. White was sentenced to five years in prison in 2012 for sexually assaulting boys in the 1980s. O’Keefe was jailed in 2004 for downloading more than12,000 pornographic images of children from the Internet.
“Neither was penitent. Both were protected and indirectly encouraged by their abbots, John [Roberts], Charles [Fitzgerald-Lombard] and Richard [Yeo],” he added.
The letters also describe a monk, who is still at Downside, to be guilty of “perverse and criminal” activities. Two others, he said, were “open to allegations of paedophilia.”
The IICSA hearing on the English Benedictine Congregation is expected to conclude on Friday
At about the time Yeo was elected Abbot of Downside in 1998, White was permitted to return from Fort Augustus. White continued to live at Downside until his arrest in 2010. For eight of the twelve intervening years, Yeo was his Abbot.
Of course, as Abbot, Yeo had access to the records of his predecessors. So he would have been fully aware of the abuse that White had admitted to before being kicked north, and it is for this reason that White was kept on “restricted ministry”.
So Yeo must be regarded as a long-term participant in the cover-up of abuse. He said in the that the cover-up “is unacceptable, I’m not defending that.” But he joined in that unacceptable action.
More extraordinary evidence at @InquiryCSA : Richard Yeo, until recently President of the Benedictines, admits that during his Presidency sex offenders were knowingly appointed as school governors and had input into safeguarding
Dom Richard Yeo is asked about F65 who is alleged to have abused a boy of 16. F65 thereafter became a Governor, and F77 a Trustee.
Another revelation at @InquiryCSA today: Richard Yeo, until recently President of the Benedictines, appointed a known sex abuser as his secretary. Unclear what access this man might have had to sensitive files.
Former HK Governor Lord Chris Patten is George Pell’s spin doctor
LORD PATTEN OF BARNES is Cardinal George Pell’s covert personal media advisor, head of his “black ops” propaganda unit and chief strategist of damage control.
Independent Australia has been informed that Patten owes Pell his job and felt obliged to respond to Pell’s plea for help after a series of public relations blunders and manoeuvres scripted in Rome and Australia backfired on the increasingly beleaguered Cardinal.
Further, IA is aware that some Vatican and Australian communications personnel have become increasingly disaffected with what they interpret as Pell’s disingenuous conduct, and his continuing lack of duty of care and compassion for victims/survivors.
As well, there is also some antipathy between Pell’s Roman staff and the office of the Archdiocese of Sydney whom, we are told, are getting fed up with being on call 24/7 and acceding to the demands of the autocratic Pell and his various acolytes.
Pell apparently still treats Sydney HQ as his own turf.
PATTEN RECRUITED BY PELL FOR HOLY SEE
In July 2014, the erudite and personable Patten was made president of the Vatican’s extensive media and communications divisions, charged with overhauling all print and electronic matters and to usher the Vatican into the digital age.
Much to the ire of many, Patten was recruited in a phone call “out of the blue” by George Pell, but why was the Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy now lording it over the Vatican’s communications unit and hiring staff, and overruling incumbent administrators ?
On the surface, Patten’s appointment was ostensibly to cut costs but it was enough to ruffle the feathers of angels.
In response to an earlier report on the Vatican’s media and communications by consultants McKinsey & Company – famous for their Anil Kumar and Rajat K.Gupta insider trader scandals – to overhaul media, Patten was eventually appointed and now oversees a committee that includes former Singapore Finance Minister, George Yeo.
Mmmh! Rock and Soper both had strong ties to both Chris Patten and the Balkans.
Ealing2
Chris Patten & Laurence (Andrew) Soper born within a year of each other, were students at St Benedict’s at the same time. They go way back…
Ealing3
Laurence Soper was the former Chaplain at Harrow School from 1981 to 1991. Harrow, Sedbergh and Durham schools were all raided in the late 1990s during a nationwide investigation into an alleged paedophile network of teachers at six leading public schools.
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Former Harrow School headmaster Ian Beer said Ball was “almost saintly” and had shown a “remarkable influence for the good with the young”. Ian Beer sent boys from all three schools he worked in (Harrow, Lancing and Ellesmere) to Peter Ball.
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According to Headmaster Ian Beer, in his letter of support for the paedophile Peter Ball, pupils flocked to Ball for confidential help and advice. Harrow hosted young people from Bishop Peter Ball’s scheme in Sussex Ian Beer was an old chum of Denis Thatcher.
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Richard Yeo, until recently President of the Benedictines, admitted that during his Presidency sex offenders were knowingly appointed as school governors and had input into safeguarding!
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Father Yeo was a member of the Cumberlege Commission into protecting children in the Catholic Church. He was Abbot of Downside from 1998 to 2006 having been secretary to the Abbot Primate of the international Benedictine Confederation.
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And, wait for it, Vice Chair of Cumberlege was the broken chair Theresa May tried to put in charge of IICSA, the woman who loved the church so dearly she would always put it before victims, the one and only Sloshed Butler:
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And, of course, Bishop Ball wouldn’t be a ‘proper’ paedophile if he weren’t connected to the PaedoProtector General …
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In fact, Bishop Bollox was a founder member of the Thatcher Foundation set up by the former prime minister. Say no more!
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IICSA has now ascertained that Richard Yeo appointed a known sex abuser as his secretary. They certainly keep it in the family!
St Benedict’s school Ealing
Another victim said he believed Maestri wasrunning a paedophile ring at the school.
‘When I speak of a paedophile ring, [I say] that there were school masters, lay or clerical, who were or have been convicted of the sexual abuse of children,’ he explained.
‘Therefore it’s reasonable to believe that something like a paedophile ring was operating at St Benedict’s school.
‘I believe that the Benedictine Order should answer for the serial abuse that has gone on in its educational establishments for the last few decades.’
The conviction comes a year after the school’s former deputy head Peter Allott was jailed for child pornography’
His defence barrister Jane Humphryes, QC, suggested his accusers were bitter ‘professional victims’ and fantasists and told one he was determined to ‘squash’ St Benedict’s and become a core participant in the IICSA.
Soper has been expelled from the monastery of St Benedict of Ealing for ‘scandalous behaviour’ but is still a priest.
Alexis Jay, will propose that no evidence be called about decades of abuse of pupils at Ealing Abbey and its adjoining independent school, St Benedict’.
Patrick Rock found guilty of having child abuse images on his computer was an aide to Chris Patten
London priest who fled to Kosovo found guilty of abusing schoolboys
Andrew Soper convicted of sexually abusing pupils at St Benedict’s school in Ealing during 1970s and 80s
6 December 2017
A former abbot who fled to Kosovo to escape justice has been convicted of abusing 10 boys at a Catholic-run school in London during the 1970s and 80s.
Andrew Soper, 74, formerly known as Father Laurence Soper, was found guilty of 19 charges of rape and other sexual offences after a lengthy trial at the Old Bailey.
Soper sexually abused pupils while he was master in charge of discipline at St Benedict’s school in Ealing, west London. He would assault them after subjecting them to corporal punishment using a cane.
The first victim contacted police in 2004 after Soper left his role as abbot of Ealing Abbey and moved to the Benedictine order’s headquarters in Rome.
The former pupil was initially told by officers there was insufficient evidence.
Soper was later interviewed at Heathrow police station in 2010 and subsequently fled to Kosovo while on police bail the following year.
He was arrested at Luton airport in August 2016 after being deported by the Kosovan authorities and returned to the UK.
Tetteh Turkson, a senior Crown Prosecution Service lawyer involved in the case, said: “Soper used his position as a teacher and as a priest to abuse children for his own sexual gratification.
“He compounded this by trying to evade justice and fleeing to Kosovo in order to go into hiding. The victims’ bravery in coming forward and giving evidence has seen him convicted of these serious offences.”
A statement on behalf of the fee-paying independent school was issued by Alex Carlile QC after the conviction. He said: “St Benedict’s school is deeply concerned for, and distressed by, the ordeals faced by the victims of Laurence Soper, who have lived with the pain of his activities for so long.
“The school apologises unreservedly for the serious wrongs of the past. The school regrets that Soper did not have the courage to plead guilty.
“The result has been that innocent victims, whom he abused when they were boys in the school, were compelled to give evidence. They were subjected to cross-examination about matters in relation to which they were both helpless and innocent.
“The fact that these matters took place many years ago does not mitigate the pain and injustice endured by them.” The statement said the school was now “a completely different institution”.
Lord Carlile added: “The tough lessons of the past have been learned, and the errors and crimes of the past are in the daily consciousness and conscience of the school management … St Benedict’s cannot and will never forget Soper’s crimes. Nevertheless they are proud of the school as it now is, and as confident as ever they can be that everything is being done to ensure that such events cannot recur.”
The school, which charges fees of about £5,000 a term, counts the former Conservative chair Lord Patten and entertainer Julian Clary among its alumni.
Gillian Etherton QC, who led the prosecution, told the court victims were subjected to sadistic beatings by Soper for “fake reasons”.
They included kicking a football “in the wrong direction”, “failing to use double margins”, and “using the wrong staircase”, leading to a caning and a sexual assault, she said.
“It is the prosecution case that ‘punishments’ as described by the complainants in this case were carried out by Soper in entirely inappropriate ways and circumstances and, on many occasions, with what can only have been sexual motive,” Etherton added.
Many of his victims have experienced flashbacks and nightmares. During the trial Soper denied using the cane as a ruse to abuse boys.
The judge, Anthony Bate, remanded Soper in custody to be sentenced on 19 December. He was convicted of two counts of buggery, two counts of indecency with a child and 15 counts of indecent assault.
A “sadistic” monk who was head of a top Catholic school was convicted yesterday of molesting ten pupils in a campaign of abuse during the 1970s and 1980s that was exposed by The Times.
Andrew Soper, known as Father Laurence, is thought to be the most senior Catholic priest to be convicted of sex crimes in the UK. He withdrew £182,000 from his Vatican bank account and fled to Kosovo to avoid prosecution for attacking boys at St Benedict’s School in Ealing, west London.
Soper, the former abbot of Ealing Abbey, which adjoins the school, spent five years abroad before he was extradited. A jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for 14 hours before finding him guilty of 19 charges of indecent assault and buggery between 1975 and 1982.
Soper, 74, who is likely to die in jail, is the fourth staff member of St Benedict’s to be convicted of indecent assault and the school apologised unreservedly last night for the “serious wrongs of the past”.
The 60-year history of abuse at the school was exposed by The Times and a report by an independent barrister concluded in 2011 that there had been a “lengthy and cumulative failure” by monks to protect children in their care.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) will hold hearings into one of the worst scandals to afflict the Catholic church in Britain.
The first of Soper’s victims to come forward last night told of his relief that justice had finally been served. The man, who came forward in 2004 but was initially told by police there was insufficient evidence, told The Times: “He will never see outside a cell again and that is where he deserves to be. He ruined my life . . . finally I am free.”
Soper was headmaster and senior priest at the school. A series of accusations were made against him after he resigned as abbot in 2000 and went to live at the Benedictine headquarters at the Collegio Sant’Anselmo, Rome. He returned to Britain to be interviewed by police about the claims in 2004, 2009 and 2010, and was allowed to go back to Rome on bail until 2011. Seven days before he was due to attend a police station in the UK, he flew to Kosovo. He was highly regarded as a scholar in the Vatican and his views on the Catholic church were widely sought. Soper has been expelled from the monastery of St Benedict at Ealing but is still a priest.
The Old Bailey was told that he got a sexual thrill from caning young boys and “cunningly” used corporal punishment as an excuse to pull down their trousers. He pulled up his robes to rape one 12-year-old pupil over a desk in his office and warned the boy he could be expelled if he ever told his parents. Detective Superintendent Ang Scott, from the Metropolitan Police, said that Soper was a “manipulative” offender who used his position to carry out “punishments” with a sexual motive.
His ten victims, who have since been plagued by mental health problems, were initially afraid to speak out because their families viewed Catholic priests with “deep respect”. Judge Anthony Bate remanded Soper in custody to be sentenced on December 19.
Soper is the latest in a string of men to face allegations relating to their work at St Benedict’s, which counts Lord Patten of Barnes, the former Conservative chairman, and Julian Clary, the entertainer, among its alumni.
In 2009, Father David Pearce, 75, nicknamed the “devil in a dog collar”, was jailed after he admitted 11 charges of indecent assault dating back to 1975. Between 2003 and 2009, John Maestri, 78, of Chatham in Kent, admitted five indecent assaults against children at St Benedict’s in the 1970s and 1980s and was jailed. In 2010, John Skelton was convicted of indecent assaults against two complainants said to have occurred in 1983 at St Benedict’s.
Father Anthony Gee (the former headmaster of St Benedict’s) faced accusations of abuse, but no further action was taken although civil action was brought against him, jurors were told.
The former pupil said that in his final O level year he told the headmaster, Father Anthony Gee, that he did not want to stay at the school for his A levels, explaining: “I do not want to be taught by perverts masquerading as teachers.”
He said Father Gee became angry at his criticism of “good teachers and good holy men” and “threatened me with eternal hell fire and damnation”.
The headmaster threatened to “destroy” the reputation of his grandfather and his father within the church and wider society,” he claimed.
Few of these recent news articles mention St Benedict’s, paedophile deputy head Peter Allott
The judge: ‘It was at the drug parties that you became aware of, and addicted to, indecent images of children. I use the phrase of a paedophile ring, that’s precisely what that was.
…blew £600 a week on paedophile drug parties is jailed for horrific stash of porn images featuring children as young as two
Cardinal Hume and a former Downside Abbey headmaster ‘did nothing at all’ after paraplegic woman informed them of alleged sex abuse, national inquiry told
In 1985, the witness visited Cardinal Basil Hume in Archbishop’s House in London and told him about the alleged abuse
Cardinal Basil Hume and a former Downside Abbey headmaster “did nothing at all” after a paraplegic woman informed them that she had been sexually abused by a Benedictine monk from the Abbey over several years, the national inquiry into child abuse has heard.
On the eighth day of a three-week hearing on the English Benedictine Congregation as part of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), the inquiry heard from a witness allegedly abused by a chaplain from Downside Abbey in Somerset.
The witness told the inquiry that she had met the chaplain – referred to as F80 – on a pilgrimage at Lourdes in 1984 when she was 17 years old. She was confined to a wheel-chair and told the inquiry that at that time she felt “suicidal.”
In a statement read to the inquiry, the witness described how, over the following two years, F80 visited her in her parent’s home where he sexually abused her.
“F80 groomed and manipulated me and my emotions and used my fear of others to keep my silence,” she said.
In early 1985, the witness visited Cardinal Basil Hume in Archbishop’s House in London and told him about the alleged abuse.
The witness said Cardinal Hume was “very concerned that I was so distressed” and suggested she talk to the headmaster of Downside Abbey, Father Dom Philip Jebb.
The witness explained to the inquiry that she had told Father Philip who she said was “very sorry and very sympathetic” but that he remained convinced that the alleged abuser should not know that he – Father Philip – knew about the abuse.
The witness said she spoke to Father Philip about the abuse “again and again and again.”
“It was like being passed backwards and forwards between Basil Hume and Philip Jebb,” she told the inquiry.
“I believe that Basil Hume and Father Philip Jebb had a conversation about what was going on,” she added.
Cardinal Hume visited the alleged abuser at one stage and told him to stop, the witness said. However, after a short period the abuse continued.
The witness told the inquiry she went back to Cardinal Hume and told him the abuse was continuing. Again Cardinal Hume told her to approach the headmaster: “and backwards and forwards I went,” she said.
The witness told the inquiry she continued to see Cardinal Hume about the alleged abuse up until he died in 1999.
In June 2007, the witness approached the then Abbot, Aidan Bellenger, and told him about the abuse. F80 was still teaching at the school. Abbot Aidan confronted F80, but did not take any action, the witness told the inquiry.
Eventually in 2010, Abbot Aidan approached Clifton Diocese’s safeguarding team, after which police became involved in the case, the witness told the inquiry.
On the opening day of the IICSA inquiry, a spokeswoman from Downside Abbey made a statement on behalf of the Abbey expressing regret for past abuses.
Kate Gallafent QC, for the English Benedictine Congregation, said that as the number of children abused had become apparent, there had been a sense of shame and “intense sadness at the anguish caused to so many people”.
Child abuse ‘was encouraged by school’s abbots’ at Downside Abbey, Somerset
Downside Abbey monks sheltered child sex offenders, a former abott says
A renowned Roman Catholic school hid a “heart of darkness” in which monks who sexually abused children were protected and indirectly encouraged by their superiors, its former abbot has claimed.
Aidan Bellenger accused his three predecessors at Downside Abbey of tolerating child abuse. He also alleged that the monastery in Somerset, which owns and runs an adjoining public school, still sheltered paedophiles.
Father Richard Yeo was accused by Aidan Bellenger of hiding abuse
One monk who is still at Downside was said by the former abbot to be guilty of “perverse and criminal” activities; two more were “open to allegations of paedophilia”. Another monk, who is no longer at the monastery, was accused of “monstrous” behaviour, including “the rape case”.
Among the former abbots said by Dr Bellenger to have sheltered child sex offenders between 1974 and 2006 is Father Richard Yeo, until recently Britain’s most senior Benedictine monk.
Father Richard, Downside abbot from 1998 to 2006, stood down as abbot president of the English Benedictine Congregation in August.
The claims about the monastery were made in letters sent last year by Dr Bellenger to Father Leo Maidlow Davis, the school’s present chairman of governors. Their contents were disclosed yesterday at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which is investigating past offences at Downside and another leading Benedictine school, Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire.
James Whitehead criticised the governance of Downside, where he is headmaster
The inquiry also heard damning criticism of the Benedictine “culture of monastic superiority” from James Whitehead, Downside’s headmaster.
Alumni of the school, which has 380 pupils and where annual boarding fees are £32,700, have included the journalist Auberon Waugh, the Mad Men actor Jared Harris and the former England rugby player Simon Halliday.
In his letters Dr Bellenger, the monastery’s abbot for eight years until 2014, referred to Father Richard White, known as Father Nicholas, who was jailed for five years in 2012 for gross indecency and indecent assault against pupils in the 1980s. He also mentioned Father Dunstan O’Keefe, who was convicted of performing a sex act in a car outside a primary school, and later jailed for possession of child abuse images.
Dr Aidan Bellenger
Dr Bellenger wrote: “At the heart of darkness in the [Downside] community is the issue of child abuse which was tolerated by all my predecessors as abbot.” He said he was “particularly concerned that Richard [Yeo], who should have known better, attempted to protect Nicholas and Dunstan when he should have been protecting their victims”. He added: “Neither was penitent. Both were protected and indirectly encouraged by their abbots, John [Roberts], Charles [Fitzgerald-Lombard] and Richard [Yeo].”
The inquiry was told that Father Leo did not reveal the existence of the letters until August this year, when he informed Dr Whitehead.
Dr Whitehead, who is due to leave Downside next year, said that the allegations potentially raised “very serious concerns that those abbots may have actually encouraged paedophilia”. He criticised the Benedictines’ “ineffectiveness of governance”, saying that a “fundamental problem” was that “members of the monastic community aren’t accountable to anyone unless they commit a criminal offence”.
The inquiry has been told that the “abbeys and schools are proud of the tradition of academic excellence and spiritual values” that they offer. It was also told that the Benedictine congregation “expresses profound shame that any child has been the victim of sexual abuse whilst in the care of the schools connected with its abbeys”.
Abbots at £32,000-a-year Roman Catholic School ‘encouraged monks to abuse children while staff there are STILL sheltering paedophiles’
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is examining abuse in schools
Letters from former abbot of catholic school tell of his concerns about abuse
In a letter last year, he said he feared the school was still sheltering a paedophile
Inquiry heard claims member of staff at school abused girl in a wheelchair
8 December 2017
A Catholic school attached to a monastery sheltered child sex offenders and tolerated abuse, its former abbot claimed.
Downside Abbey in Somerset is being examined by Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse after two of its monks were jailed for child sex offences.
Letters from the abbey’s former abbot, Aidan Bellenger, have now revealed his fears that ‘the issue of child abuse was tolerated by all my predecessors as abbot’.
In a letter sent last year, he said of two monks who had been imprisoned over abuse: ‘Neither was penitent. Both were protected (and implicitly) encouraged by their abbots.’
He said of two other monks: ‘[They] avoided trial, but their offences (more than allegations) remain on record.’
His letter including a warning that a monk who still lives at Downside had taken part in ‘perverse and criminal’ activities.
Two others he said ‘were open to allegations of “paedophilia”‘, adding: ‘Small fry perhaps but in outside perceptions they would be in trouble.’
He warned: ‘More “historic” cases will emerge’, listing five other names, which have been redacted by the inquiry.
Earlier this week, the inquiry heard from a woman who said she was abused by a member of the staff at the school in the 1980s, when she was a wheelchair- bound teenager.
Two monks from the Abbey have previously been jailed for child sex offences.
Monk Richard White, 66, was handed a five-year sentence in 2012 after abusing two boys more than two decades ago, including a 12-year-old he paid 50p to hush up.
His court hearing was told that, instead of contacting the police after allegations were raised, the then abbot of the monastery simply stopped White from teaching younger students.
In 2004, Desmond O’Keefe, another former priest from the abbey, was jailed for downloading 12,000 children sex abuse images.
Dr Bellenger, who was abbot for eight years until 2014, has previously apologised to all former pupils affected by abuse.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) is currently examining the prevalence of paedophilia among Benedictine monks and failures to protect young people.
It is focusing on offenders who targeted children at two famous Catholic public schools, Ampleforth in North Yorkshire and Downside in Somerset, over many decades.
But although numerous inquiries have exposed the problem of child abuse within church institutions and a string of offenders have been convicted, safety concerns are said to remain.
Counsel to the inquiry Riel Karmy-Jones QC told a hearing last month the recorded allegations ‘go back many years… and they continue into the present day’.
She added: ‘In considering the evidence and assessing the extent of abuse, it must be remembered that we have to rely on that which has been reported, and the extent and accuracy with which those reports have been recorded, if at all.
‘In that time we have moved from scant records, little more than a handwritten notes on scraps of paper being kept, to electronic records. So some of the records that remain are old and illegible, some incomplete, some lost or destroyed.’
Andrew Soper trial: Jury deliberating case of abbot accused of abusing boys at Ealing school
The jury is out after a two-month trial into alleged sexual abuse at St Benedict’s School, Ealing
30 Nov 2017
A former abbot at Ealing Abbey accused of abusing boys while working at a school in Ealing is awaiting the verdict in his trial at the Old Bailey.
Andrew Soper was headmaster and senior priest at St Benedict’s School, a fee-paying independent school in Ealing, and he stands accused of abusing 10 boys there during the 1970s and 80s.
Now aged 74, Mr Soper denies 19 offences of indecent assault and buggery against the boys, who claim they were subjected to sexual touching and beatings with a cane.
Prosecutors said the school had a history of “both violence and sexual abuse” by the adults in charge, describing it as “sadly prevalent”.
A former pupil accused the school of covering up covering up “serial abuse” by teachers and priests over the past six decades in his testimony.
Jurors heard Father David Pearce, a former headmaster at the school, and John Maestri, a former maths teacher, have previously been prosecuted for child abuse crimes there.
A pupil told the court that he believed Maestri ran a paedophile ring at the school, but defence lawyer Jane Humphreys QC accused the man of concocting the stories to get back at school masters who had caned him.
“You say Mr Soper caned you and other masters did as well. You said that you want to bring the Benedictine order to its knees,” said the barrister.
The victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the beatings were given for “fake reasons” such as kicking a football “in the wrong direction”, “failing to use double margins” and “using the staircase”, the Old Bailey heard.
During his defence, Mr Soper told jurors incidents had been interpreted in a “sexual way” against a “tsunami of media attention as I am named fairly frequently”.
The abbot was extradited from Kosovo for the trial after he fled there from Rome upon learning he was the subject of a Metropolitan Police investigation in 2011.
Explaining why he fled, he blamed “stupidity and cowardice” and told the jury that his life had been ruined by the allegations.
The jury retired to consider the verdicts on Thursday morning following a two-month trial.
Andrew Soper trial: Accused tells jury caning at Ealing school was ‘interpreted in a sexual way’
Former Ealing abbot Andrew Soper claims victims interpreted caning incidents at St Benedict’s school in a “sexual way”
23 NOV 2017
An Ealing priest has blamed a “tsunami” of media attention for almost identical accounts of boys he is accused of sexually abusing at a fee-paying Catholic school.
Former abbot Andrew Soper, 74, allegedly molested 10 pupils during his time as headmaster and senior priest at St Benedict’s School in Ealing in the 1970s and 80s.
Prosecutor Gillian Etherton QC quizzed the defendant on the “extraordinary” similarities between some of the alleged victims’ stories during his trial at the Old Bailey on Wednesday (November 22).
They claimed Soper “searched them for a book under the ruse of patting to touch their bottom” and offered three strokes of the cane instead of six “severe lashes” if they took their trousers and pants down.
The defendant accepted he had checked boys for “padding” and had changed his account to police on “calmer recollection” of events of some 30 years ago.
But he denied bargaining over the cane, saying: “I never gave that sort of an option because I would never give a boy six strokes of the cane, that’s far too much.
“I normally gave two or three.”
He told jurors incidents had been interpreted in a “sexual way” against a “tsunami of media attention as I am named fairly frequently”.
He cited a “backdrop of heavy media attention for the last 10 years” including a blog and “victim” discussion group, documentaries on Channel 4, Channel 5, Panorama, and news articles naming him and the school.
He said: “Against all that you have then got money, of course, which is a great incentive and the more elaborate the story, the more money you get.”
He went on: “I think, if I’m right, that seven out of 10 complainants left St Benedict’s before they completed their education for various reasons and none of them seem to have had, understandably, any love for the school.
“Also I’m associated in the media and public with a number of people who have been accused, and in some cases pleaded guilty, to child abuse in a relatively small school within the same time.”
He denies the 19 alleged offences of indecent assault, indecency with a child, and buggery allegedly committed against 10 boys.
Why is the Charles Howeson trial getting so much more media coverage, than the Laurence Soper trial?
CASES OF INTEREST AT THE OLD BAILEY ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17
Court 7 at 10am Trial Continues in the case of Andrew Soper, a Catholic priest, who has denied sexually abusing 10 boys at a west London school in the 1970s and 80s.
Soper very protected – Minimal coverage of Soper’s trial:
Priests were ‘part of a paedophile network’
19 Oct 2017
A child abuse victim claims a paedophile ring was operating at a Roman Catholic school where a former monk allegedly sexually assaulted schoolboys, a court heard. St Benedict’s School in Ealing, west London, has covered up ‘serial abuse’ by teachers and priests over the past six decades, according to one of Father Andrew Soper’s former pupils. Soper, 74, a former abbot of Ealing Abbey in west London, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of a string of sex…
THREE Stacey was very close to Peter Righton. Stacey, formerly a vicar, was based in Maidstone, where Righton also lived for a time.
FOUR They cemented their friendship via Social Work Today and were on a steering ctte to train those working with disturbed young people.
FIVE Also in this group of 6 were John Rea Price, Director of Islington for 19 years while every one of its kids’ homes was run by paedos.
SIX When Liz Davies blew the whistle on Islington, Rea Price quickly legged it to become CEO of NCB, also based in Islington.
SEVEN Also close to Righton and Stacey was Chris Andrews, Chair of BASW and another force within SWT alongside Margaret Claire Jervis.
Read here how Andrews rushed to the defence of paedophile Peter Righton:
Chris Andrews, of BASW, described Righton at the time of his arrest as follows: He [Righton] is a highly respected figure within the residential field, particularly working with highly disturbed children. He is very much concerned with therapeutic work in child care’ (cited in Burden and Rose, ‘Porn Squad quiz Child Care Expert’).
EIGHT Margaret Claire Jervis went on to become Barbara Hewson’s close friend and fellow activist in the false allegations campaign.
NINE When Righton was arrested in 1992, Chris Andrews, who spoke for BASW, was one of the first to jump to Righton’s defence.
Andrew Soper trial: Alleged child abuse victim claims paedophile ring operated from Ealing Catholic school
The former pupil of Father Andrew Soper accused St Benedict’s School of covering up “serial abuse”
On Thursday (October 19), a former pupil of Father Andrew Soper accused St Benedict’s school of covering up “serial abuse” by teachers and priests over the past six decades.
Soper, a 74-year-old former abbott of Ealing Abbey, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of a string of sex offences – including buggery and indecent assault against 10 schoolboys.
Prosecutors claim sexual abuse and violence against children was widespread at the Roman Catholic school from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Jurors heard Father David Pearce, a former headmaster at the school, and John Maestri, a former maths teacher, have previously been prosecuted for child abuse there.
The court heard from one complainant, who accused Soper of indecently assaulting him twice, who said he believes Maestri ran a paedophile ring at the school.
‘The Benedictine Order should answer for the serial abuse’
The complainant replied: “I believe that the Benedictine Order should answer for the serial abuse that has gone on in its educational establishments for the last few decades.
Laurence Soper, 74, the abbot of Ealing Abbey from 1991-2000, was headmaster and senior priest at St Benedict’s School in Ealing, west London.
Former pupil allegedly abused by Ealing priest denies being a ‘professional victim’
The witness was called a fantasist after claiming he was raped and indecently assaulted by Andrew Soper
A former west London pupil – who won a £135,000 settlement after claiming he was sexually abused by a school priest – was accused of being a fantasist on Monday (October 16).
The alleged victim first came forward after claiming he was raped and indecently assaulted by Andrew Soper, 74, at St Benedict’s School in Ealing in the 1970s.
Roman Catholic priest, 74, ‘withdrew £182,000 from his Vatican bank account and went on the run in Albania after being accused of sexually abusing schoolchildren’
Father Laurence Soper, 74, was a former abbot of Ealing Abbey in west London
Soper then skipped bail and flew to Kosovo when he was accused of sex offences
It is claimed the Catholic priest caned pupils to give himself a thrill at the school
A Roman Catholic priest withdrew £182,000 from his Vatican bank account and went on the run in Albania after he was accused of sexually abusing schoolchildren in the 1970s and 1980s, a court heard.
Father Laurence Soper, 74, a former abbot of Ealing Abbey in west London, skipped bail and flew to Kosovo when he was accused of sex offences including buggery and indecent assault on boys under 16, it is said.
Prosecutors say the abuse took place between September 1972 and July 1983 while Soper was headmaster at St Benedict’s School in Ealing.
Soper caned pupils to give himself a thrill at the school, where sexual abuse and violence was allegedly widespread, it is claimed.
One of his alleged victims said children ‘had been targeted by predators and assaulted’ at St Benedict’s and accused the school of a ‘serial cover up’.
A series of accusations were made against Soper after he resigned as abbot and went to live at the Benedictine headquarters at Collegio Sant’Anselmo in Rome, Italy, in 2000.
He flew to the UK to be interviewed by police about the claims in July 2004, June 2009 and September 2010, and was allowed to return to Rome on police bail until 11 March 2011.
But seven days before he was due to attend a police station in the UK, he flew to Kosovo, Albania, with 204,000 euros withdrawn from his Vatican bank account, jurors were told.
Soper, who was then working as general treasurer of the International Benedictine Confederation, claimed he had been paid to study a mystical strand of Islam in the Balkans, the Old Bailey heard.
Gillian Etherton QC, prosecuting, said: ‘As a result of the defendant failing to attend his re-bailed date attempts were made by the police and authorities to locate him.
‘After five-and-a-half years of being wanted by police the defendant was located in Kosovo.
‘A European Arrest warrant was issued for Andrew Soper’s extradition. Eventually the authorities deported the defendant.
‘The defendant was arrested for these offences at Luton Airport coming off a flight from Kosovo on 21 August 2016.
‘He was cautioned and replied: “I vigorously deny these allegations.”‘
She added: ‘You will hear that the defendant is a meticulous man who analyses and plans most things.
‘The prosecution say he carefully organised his leaving of Rome. It was his clear intention to fall below police radar.’
Soper has since been expelled from the monatsery of St Benedict of Ealing for ‘scandalous behvaiour’ but is still a priest, the court heard.
He has been charged with 19 alleged sex offences relating to 10 complainants, including buggery and indecency with a child.
According to charges, he indecently assaulted one boy on a school cycling holiday and anally raped him twice on other occasions.
Soper, who was in charge of discipline at St Benedict’s School while he taught there, is also accused of using caning as ‘a method to rouse and to gain sexual gratification’.
The defendant, described as ‘manipulative’, ‘perverted’ and ‘sadistic’ by various complainants, allegedly kept canes, a cat-o-nine tails whip and a leather strap in his desk.
One former pupil said he was ‘the scariest of the monks there’.
‘He was a disciplinarian and never smiled,’ added the complainant.
Jurors heard the former pupils were told to pull their trousers down while Soper punished them in his headmaster’s room for ‘false reasons’ such as kicking a football in the wrong direction.
The boys were left feeling ‘dirty and ashamed’ after the incidents – but just one of the 10 alleged victims told his parents what had happened.
He claimed his parents, who have since died, didn’t tell the police because ‘priests were much respected’.
Ms Etherton said: ‘A priest or a monk is a person to look up to and hold in deep respect, not someone to challenge or confront.
‘A young boy’s word against that of a priest – you may think it’s little wonder that most of the complainants at the time said nothing.’
One former pupil was paid £135,000 to settle a sex abuse claim against Soper out of court in 2010, while another one was paid £5,900 after launching a civil claim, the Old Bailey was told.
Former headmaster father David Pearce and former maths teacher John Maestri have previously been prosecuted for child abuse at the school, jurors heard.
The court heard that several of the complainants came forward after reading about allegations of sexual abuse at the school on the internet.
Soper, formerly of Peja, Kosovo, denies two counts of buggery, one count of indecency with a child, 10 counts of indecent assault on boys under 16 and six counts of indecent assault on boys under 18.
Court 7 at 10.30am New trial of Andrew Soper, an ex-Roman Catholic priest has denied sexually abusing 10 boys at a west London school in the 1970s and 80s.
Mandate Now@mandatenowDespite not featuring in Court Listings, the Trial of Soper commences in Court 7 of the Old Bailey at 10.30 today.
Former abbot to stand trial for abusing 10 schoolboys
10Aug2017
Ealing
A former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing 10 schoolboys in the 1970s and 1980s will stand trial in October. Father Laurence Soper, 73, a former abbot of Ealing Abbey in west London, is charged with 18 sex offences including buggery and indecent assault on boys under 16. They are said to have occurred at St Benedict’s School in Ealing, where he taught first as a priest before being promoted to abbot.
Child abuse inquiry set to drop investigation into Ealing Abbey monks
May 30 2017
Lawyers will propose next week that no evidence be called about decades of abuse of pupils at Ealing Abbey and its adjoining independent school, St Benedict’sTimes Newspapers Ltd
An investigation into one of the worst scandals to afflict the Catholic Church in Britain is set to be dropped from the public inquiry into child abuse.
Next week lawyers for Alexis Jay, chairwoman of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), will propose that no evidence be called about decades of abuse of pupils at Ealing Abbey and its adjoining independent school, St Benedict’s.
Victims were furious and accused Professor Jay of backtracking on her previous promise not to reduce the scope of the inquiry. They said the move undermined the credibility of the inquiry, which has lost three chairwomen, cost more than £20 million and shown little tangible progress since it was set up by Theresa May in 2014.
Andrew Johnson has been appointed as Headmaster of St Benedict’s School, Ealing. Andrew has been the Headmaster of Stonyhurst College in Lancashire since September 2006, and has succeeded Chris Cleugh who retired in September.
Andrew studied Modern Languages at Bristol University, having attended Skinners School in Tunbridge Wells.
Several former priests and teachers at the Jesuit-run Stonyhurst College in the Ribble Valley were investigated over sex abuse allegations in the late 90s
Father James Chaning-Pearce, who taught maths and physics there, was convicted of molesting four boys and jailed for five years in 1997.
And Father John James Pearson was later jailed for two years after admitting to more than 20 indecency charges at Preston Crown Court, also relating to Stonyhurst.
Fr “Jock”George Earle, accused of abuse as Headmaster of Stonyhurst, yet he went on to lead the Jesuits’ British Province…
British priest wanted on child sex charges should not be extradited – Kosovo court
A former priest wanted on child sex abuse charges from the 1970s and 1980s should not be extradited to Britain because the crimes were committed too long ago, a court in Kosovo ruled on Monday.
Soper will remain in custody and the prosecutor has three days to appeal the ruling, she said.
This is the second time authorities in Kosovo have rejected the extradition request. In June, a court in Pristina rejected the request, seeking more documents from British authorities.
A judge in Kosovo has blocked the extradition to Britain of former abbot of St Benedict’s Laurence Soper accused of child abuse.
A Kosovan court blocked the move because under Kosovan law the child abuse allegations against him – some of which date back to the 1970s – had expired.
In 2010, Laurence Soper was arrested and questioned in Italy, where he was living at the time, after an alleged victim approached police claiming he had abused him.
When British police summoned him again for questioning in 2011 he did not return, sparking what became a five-year Europe-wide manhunt before he was eventually found and arrested in the Kosovan city of Peja earlier this year.
The Times understands that Soper has travelled around the region on his British passport and made 22 trips to Macedonia since 2011.It raises questions over why he was not arrested there, because Macedonia is a member of Europol.
In 2010, when Mr Soper was living in Italy, a complainant in his 40s reported historical claims of abuse to police. Mr Soper was arrested and questioned, and allowed to keep his passport and return to Rome, where he lived at Collegio Sant’Anselmo, the order’s headquarters. He vanished the next year when he was asked to answer bail in London.
Wanted monk Soper had travelled to Balkans freely
A runaway former abbot arrested in Kosovo over child sex offences had been travelling freely around the Balkans on his British passport, his landlord said last night.
Laurence Soper, a senior Roman Catholic cleric, had travelled to Macedonia and Albaniadespite jumping police bail and evading a European arrest warrant, it was claimed.
Justice Lowell Goddard has said that the English Benedictine Congregation would be one of the first institutions to be investigated by the national child abuse inquiry
“The first case study will examine the English Benedictine Congregation which has been the subject of numerous allegations of child sexual abuse, including at schools run by the Congregation. The Inquiry will examine the relationship between Orders such as the Benedictines and the Catholic Church in England and Wales and consider how that relationship impacts on child protection. In this way the Inquiry will evaluate whether any failings identified within the English Benedictine Congregation, and within any other case studies identified as part of the investigation, are representative of wider failings within the Catholic Church.”
Chris Patten/ St Benedict’s child abuse paedophile ring/ Patrick Rock/ Balkans/Vatican
Laurence Soper is the former abbot of Ealing Abbey. He taught at St Benedict’s (where Chris Patten is patron) for 12 years
The Metropolitan police had sought to bring back Laurence Soper, a senior cleric in the Roman Catholic Church, when he was found in the Balkans,in the eastern town of Peja, after a five-year manhunt.
Neighbours told a reporter that Soper, 72, had lived in the town for some years, did not have a job and had said he was writing a book.
“Kosovo is the unrecognised break-away Serbian state which was at the centre of the bombing campaign that generated huge numbers of orphans. This bombing campaign … destroyed many families in Bosnia and Herzegovina…
The resulting micro states in the Kosovo-Bosnia-Albanian region are now the hotbeds of child trafficking syndicates who have wealthy customers in the Vatican to the West and Czech and Polish pedo traders in the North West.”
Soper taught at St Benedict’s from 1972 to 1984 and was abbot at Ealing for nine years until 2000.
He was one of the most powerful figures in the Benedictine order, the oldest Catholic monastic order, and also served as chaplain at Harrow School from 1981 to 1991and as a visiting chaplain at Feltham young offender institution.
Allegations: Feltham Young Offenders Institution where Fr Soper was chaplain 1988-2000
There have been complaints about abuse of inmates at Feltham, and Ealing Abbey subsequently confirmed that the police interviewed Soper at the time in connection with those complaints. link
Soper retired as Abbot in 2000 and immediately moved to the Benedictine headquarters at Collegio Sant’Anselmo in Rome where he became general treasurer of the International Benedictine Confederation in 2002 until his disappearance in 2011.
Sant’Anselmo in Rome.
Laurence Soper was bursar of Sant’Anselmo and treasurer of the worldwide Benedictine
Confederation,
(Until 2013, the age of consent in the Vatican was 12 years old.)
Beside the visible swimming pool for the students is the headquarters of the Knights of Malta
His friends say that Laurence Soper also worked at the Vatican Bank.
From Laundering To Profiteering, A Multitude Of Sins At The Vatican Bank
For decades, the Catholic Church has been dogged by scandals involving money. Vatican City — a sovereign state — controls its own finances through the Vatican Bank. It developed as a cross between the Federal Reserve and an offshore bank.
The Vatican Bank – one of the top banks in the world for money laundering
Child abuse case monk in secret trip to Vatican while on the run
26 November 2011
Fr Laurence, known as ‘St Benedict’s banker after hiding in Montenegro on the Adriatic coast – where the European Arrest Warrant is not valid – he secretly returned to the Vatican to empty his account.
(Harrow,Sedbergh and Durham schools,all raided in the late 1990s during a nationwide investigation into an alleged paedophile network of teachers at six leading public schools. )
Assistant Master (Modern Languages) 1980-; House Master of Elmfield 1995- 2007; University Liaison Master 1992-95. University of Toronto (1stclass French & German).
At Harrow in 2003, Lady Diana’s nephew George McCorquodale was punished by housemaster Dr James Holland for bullying
George and Emily McCorquodale are children of Neil Edmund McCorquodale and his wife, née Lady Sarah SpencerLady Sarah, whose godmother was the Queen Mother, was a prosecution witness and had to answer questions about the gifts to Diana’s godchildren and about the “rape tape” – alleged to have contained allegations made by former servant George Smith of a male rape in the royal household.
EMILY’S illness is the family’s second blow in less than a month after her brother was disciplined for bullying at school. George, 18, is to be excluded from end of term celebrations at Harrow as a punishment for taunting a fellow pupil.
But the teenager has been allowed to stay on to take his exams.
George, who bears a striking resemblance to close friend Prince Harry, will leave the pounds 19,500 a year school after next Saturday’s Speech Day, traditionally attended by all the school’s pupils. Sources at Harrow said George carried out a relentless campaign of abuse against the other pupil who eventually reported him to his family.
They went to housemaster Dr James Holland, who took action.
While not excusing George’s behaviour, sources suggested he has been deeply affected by his sister’s illness and publicity surrounding his family during the Paul Burrell trial. One said: “Obviously all the other pupils were aware of it and it did not help his behaviour.
“There was some emotional impact and that was reflected in how he behaved towards other pupils.”
Harrow’s headmaster Barnaby Lennon denied George had been expelled. He said: “I’m not prepared to discuss the disciplinary record of any individual pupil.
Harrow is one of Britain’s oldest public schools and has educated six Prime Ministers including Winston Churchill.
Grandfather of bully George McCorquodale – Lord Alastair McCorquodale- was a governor at Harrow school up untilhis death (2009). His son Neil married Lady Sarah Spencer
Harrow School & convicted paedophile rev Peter Ball
Jimmy Savile and Prince Charles’ very close friendship with sex abuse bishop Peter Ball
Prince Charles Provided Free House To Bishop Arrested in UK Child Abuse Probe
Charles was a ‘loyal friend’, Bishop said
The UK’s spiraling child-abuse scandal has already reached Prince Charles once – he was a good friend of the children’s TV presenter Jimmy Savile who was a predatory paedophile – and now the prince’s judgment is being called into question again, after it emerged that a retired Church of England bishop arrested by police investigating historic allegations of child sex abuse was given a free house to live in by Charles after the bishop resigned in disgrace having received a police caution for committing acts of gross indecency.
Ball said : ‘He [Prince Charles] has been wonderfully kind and allowed me to have a Duchy house. The prince is a loyal friend.’
‘I have immense admiration for him. He has been through horrific times and is a great person.‘
Establishment figures who helped paedophile bishop Peter Ball avoid prosecution for sex abuse revealed
Harrow School’s relationship with convicted paedophile friend of Prince Charles, the Rev Peter Ball:
Former Harrow School headmaster Ian Beer said Ball was “almost saintly” and had shown a “remarkable influence for the good with the young”.
Ian Beer sent boys from all three schools he worked in (Harrow, Lancing and Ellesmere) to Peter Ball
According to Headmaster Ian Beer, in his letter of support for the paedophile Peter Ball, pupils flocked to Peter Ball for confidential help and advice
Harrow hosted young people from Bishop Peter Ball’s scheme in Sussex
Ian Beer recommended that Peter Ball be made governor
Ian Beer was an old chum of Denis Thatcher
At Denis Thatcher’s Funeral : a poem was read by Sir Denis’s old rugby chum, former-head of Harrow, Ian Beer
Ian Beer attended a Christmas Eve party w/Thatcher & Jimmy Savile at Chequers:
1982Dec 24 Fr
Archive (Thatcher MSS)
MT Engagement Diary
1340 To Chequers
1830-2000 Small drinks party
Guest List
Carringtons, Tim Smith, Ian Beer (Headmaster of Harrow), Station Commander of RAF Halton, Jimmy Savile, Mr. Hooker, Davids, Hamiltons, Nicholsons, Alison Ward:
On 3 July 1997 he was found guilty of taking cash for questions from Al Fayed, along with Neil Hamilton
Harrow: In 1974 an IRA bomb exploded at one of the masters’ flats, and in the same year an arsonist set fire to one of the houses, The Grove. The offender, one of the boys in the house, was tried in 1975 at the Old Bailey, where he produced evidence of “card and beer sessions” and claimed to have been the victim of homosexual “attack”.
Ian David Stafford Beer Headmaster at Harrow School 1981–1991
Ian Beer of Harrow speaking about Rev Peter Ball:
Andrew Charles Kingsdon Soper, also known as Father Laurence, was born in Hendon, Middlesex, on September 17 1943, to Alan Kingsdon Soper and Anne, maiden name Morris. His Penzance-born father married his mother in Cardiff in 1936.
He was a distant cousin of the socialist and Methodist peer Lord Donald Soper.
Among the prominent Methodists associated with the Kingsway Hall wasDonald Soper, who was Superintendent Minister at the West London Mission from 1936 until his retirement in 1978.
Father Laurence Soper briefly worked for Barclays Bank before entering the monastery in 1964. He taught at St Benedict’s from 1973-83, and became bursar between 1975-1991. He was elected Ruling Abbot from 1991-2000, but quit Britain in 2001 for Rome.
EducationSt Benedict’s Sch Ealing, St Benet’s Hall Oxford, Collegio Sant Anselmo Rome (STL, STD), St Mary’s Coll Twickenham (PGCE)
Books & PublicationsThe Thoughts of Jesus Christ (1970), T H Green as Theologian (1972)
Recreationswalking
The Rt Rev Laurence Soper, OSB
CareerBarclays Bank 1960-64; entered monastery Ealing 1964; ordained: deacon (Assisi) 1969, priest 1970; St Benedict’s Sch Ealing: teacher 1973-83, bursar 1975-91, prior 1984-91, ruling abbot 1991-2000; titular abbot St Albans 2000-; episcopal vicar for Religious in Archdiocese of Westminster Western Area 1995-2000; delg to Gen Chapter (sec) 1985 and 1989; pt/t chaplain Harrow Sch 1981-91, visiting chaplain Feltham YOI 1988-2000; chm Union of Monastic Superiors 1995-99, gen treas Int Benedictine Confedn 2002-; Freeman City of Norcia Italy; FRSA 1975
A review by Lord Carlile QC (considered a whitewash, especially as it was commissioned by the school’s trustees) into decades of paedophile activity at St Benedict’s school, a Catholic school attached to the abbey, published in 2011, listed 21 abuse cases starting in 1970.
Soper was named as one of five clergy wanted for questioning in relation to paedophile activity involving pupils.
The inquiry at the school was prompted after a former headteacher, Father David Pearce, was convicted of abusing five boys. He was jailed for eight years in 2009 for the abuse over 36 years. Four of the victims were under 14.
Father David Pearce
Lord Carlile’s report says that as a result of the reforms being put in place, he believes that St Benedict’s is now an “excellent place” for boys and girls to be “educated in safety”.
In addition to Father David Pearce, two former teachers at St. Benedict’s (John Maestri and Stephen Skelton) have been convicted of sexual abuse of pupils, and the school’s deputy headmaster Peter Allott was arrested in late 2015. He subsequently pleaded guilty to possessing, making and distributing child abuse images and was sentenced to 33 months in jail.
In 1982 a Middle-School Master called John Maestri disappeared weeks before he was due to replace Dom Laurence Soper as Master of the Middle School.
“It emerged many years later that the parent of the victim had complained to Abbot Francis that she would report John Maestri to the Police if he were allowed to take up the post as Master of the Middle School. He then disappeared.
Maestri has been before Isleworth Crown Court on three occasions. All of them for sexual offences against boys under the age of 14, all of them pupils at St. Benedict’s School, and all the offences relate to his time teaching at the school. In all three cases he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Maestri went on to teach at another school after he left St. Benedict’s.
…The obvious inference is that Maestri was asked to leave quietly to avoid publicity, and that part of the deal involved giving him a good reference that made no mention of the real reason for his departure.
I wonder how many times something like this has happened at the school.
But the most ironic and even tragic thing is that Maestri’s position as junior school headteacher subsequently went to – Father David Pearce.
It was a very strange failure of judgment that caused the Abbot to appoint two paedophile abusers in quick succession as junior school headteacher
Peter William Allott, who was the deputy head at St Benedict’sCatholic Independent Day School, pleaded guilty to possessing, showing and making indecent images of children, one offence of possessing extreme pornography and possession of class A drugs
Allott admitted possessing 25 ‘grossly offensive’ images on a hard drive and sharing the images with other offenders
Allott, 36 was arrested by officers from the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Command, acting on intelligence was received that an individual had been using video conferencing facilities to share indecent images of children with others around the UK.
The judge said:
“I use the phrase of a paedophile ring, that’s precisely what that was.”
Allott was associated with a man whose online chat name was “London Paedo”.
He added that he shared images on Zoom and had image capture software to save pictures when others sent them to him.
Some of the material featured children as young as 2 years old.
“He was alarmed by some of it. He said he was surprised some of them were still alive.”
There’s a pattern here. The abuse is widespread. The perpetrators often seem to have been made headmaster of the middle school at some point in their career. The abuse was common knowledge – to both boys and teachers. And nothing was done, because the authority of the church was behind the abusers. They were monks and priests as well as teachers. Sometimes senior monks – headmaster or even Abbot
Paedophile Peter Allott left for a year in 2011 to work as a research associate for a project on the Prime Minister David Cameron’s “Big Society” initiative and Catholic social teaching at CambridgeUniversity.
Chris Patten is linked with paedophile- infested St Benedict’s as patron. Peter Allott of St Benedict’s was convicted of making indecent images of underage children
Chris Patten is linked to Patrick Rock, a paedophile also convicted and making indecent images of underage children (Patrick Rock was Patten’s former adviser on the West Balkans)
Patrick Rock moved to Brussels and worked for Chris Patten (European Commissioner) …Patten preceded by Leon Brittan
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2011 David Cameron brought Patrick Rock back into Downing Street appointing him deputy head of the influential No 10 policy unit. The same year Peter Allott was chosen to work on David Cameron’s Big Initiative Policy Project
Was Peter Rock involved?
2011: In recent years, Laurence Soper frequently took himself off on sudden short holidays to Morocco, Tunisia, Albania and Montenegro.
Tony Blair sent Patten to Brussels. Patten was there from 1999 – 2004
link
Patrick Rock admitted downloading the pictures of young Czech girls while staying at the Pinehurst hotel and golf club in the US
He admitted downloading images of 20 young girls.
Youngest victim would have been 8 yrs old.
Commenting in the Telegraph, Joan Smith pointed out that his youngest victim, now 10, would have been even younger 2 years ago when the offences were committed and that his government duties had included devising policies to make the internet safer for children. Smith expressed astonishment that Rock would not spend a single night in prison and says upper class status protected him
SOFT JUSTICE Patrick Rock, 65, was found guilty of five counts of making indecent images of children
Patrick Rock, David Cameron’s former aide who was spared jail over indecent pictures of children was given softer sentence because of judge’s blunder
The 65-year-old also served under Margaret Thatcher and worked on child abuse policy when he was arrested
23rd January 2017,
A FORMER aide to David Cameron convicted of having indecent pictures of children was given a slashed sentence because of a judge’s mistake.
Patrick Rock was given just a two-year conditional discharge after downloading images of half-naked girls in sexual poses – some as young as ten – to his iPad.
Under David Cameron, Rock was deputy head of Home Affairs policy unit with responsibility for co-ordinating the government’s response to child abuse images online.
The Oxford graduate also served under Margaret Thatcher as political correspondence secretary.
The minimum period should have been five years, but the mistake Judge Alistair McCreath made in June was not spotted until it was too late.
Judge McCreath only became aware of the “error” in October when he received a letter from the Met Police’s solicitor – but it was after the eight-week deadline to make any changes.
Today, Judge McCreath told Southwark Crown Court: “The position, crystal clear as it was, is now doubly crystal clear. There is nothing that I can do.
Rock served under David Cameron and worked in the Home Affairs policy unit on its response to child abuse
“It has always been the duty of the prosecution to inform the court of its powers to sentence and in the event of the court making an error in its powers of sentencing it is the for the prosecution to inform the court so it can remedy it.
“When an error is made it has to be brought to the attention of the court within eight weeks, this order was made on June 2, the first I heard of it was when a letter was sent from the Met Commissioner solicitors dated October 10.
“I recognise that was unlawful but this error was not brought to my attention in time within the generous eight weeks allowed.
“I have no power to do anything about this because the time has now passed in which I could exercise these powers.
“In these circumstances this application to vary the order has to be refused.”
He said the police lawyer “has fairly acknowledged error on the part of the prosecution at the time of sentence”.
On the possibility of amending the order, he added: “I have no power to do so and I am bound to refuse (this application).”
Rock, 65, of Fulham, south-west London, faced 20 charges of making indecent images of a child in August 2013 and was convicted of five counts.
He was cleared of three and the jury was unable to reach verdicts on the other 12, which were left to lie on file.
Rock was told he must register as a sex offender for the duration of the two years and was also banned from using a device with the internet unless it can retain his browsing history – and must allow police to inspect his history.
Sentencing him, Judge McCreath had told him: “The punishment for you is the loss of your reputation and your very public humiliation.”
Judge McCreath gave Rock a two-year conditional discharge on each count to run concurrently and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Yet a letter from the Met Commissioner’s office dated October 10 last year indicated the discharge should have been for five years, as that is the statutory minimum.
The Crown Prosecution Service indicted it may apply to the Court of Appeal to have the order amended.
Cameron Aide Guilty of Downloading Child Porn; but Did Policy Chief Delete Indecent Images on Second Computer?
Daily Mail (London), June 2, 2016
It can now be revealed that he may have hid other incriminating evidence before his arrest in February 2014. Rock is believed to have wiped a computer after a tip-off from his sister that the FBI had seized his iPad containing the images. It had been found by builders at his mother’s home in North Carolina shortly after her death.
Investigators believe his sister, who lives in America, emailed him about the search. …prompted Rock to erase the memory on a second tablet he had with him in the UK.
British MP Jo Cox gave her first child a Bosniak name and had ties to Srebrenica.
Slain UK MP Took Close Interest in Bosnia
…took a passionate interest in the Balkans, Sudan and Syria, visiting Srebrenica and running a camp for orphans from the eastern Bosnian town,where Bosnian Serbs massacred about 8,000 Bosniak Muslims in 1995.
As well as giving her first-born child a Bosniak name, Lejla, she referred regularly to past tragic events in Bosnia – and Kosovo – in parliamentary speeches urging Britain’s Conservative government to intervene more forcefully in the Syrian civil war.
2. (C) Patrick Rock, External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten’s cabinet adviser on Balkans issues, pointed to the 30 June EU statement offering full support for Ashdown’s actions in Bosnia earlier in the day and stressing the need for full cooperation with the Tribunal. Regarding visa bans, Rock thought that it was possible that the EU would follow the U.S. and add additional names recommended by Ashdown. He was firm, however, in saying that the EU was not able to freeze assets of ICTY indictee support networks, which he attributed to legal issues in some member states. Although the presidency country could not change member-state law, Rock did feel that the Dutch might be able to take a more active approach and encouraged our raising the issue with them. Rock said that the EU’s Western Balkans Working Group (COWEB) would almost certainly consider the demarche at its next meeting and remarked that the UK “could often be helpful.”
Patrick Rock comes from a Catholic family and was schooled by Jesuits
Rock’s headmaster, Fr George Hughes Earle, was a protected Jesuit paedophile
Fr “Jock”George Earle, accused of abuse as Headmaster of Stonyhurst, yet he went on to lead the Jesuits’ British Province…
Young Jock joined the RAF, and served as an Intelligence officer in India and Burma.
On returning to Britain Earle worked briefly for the Ministry of Defence, then read Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford,
Fr George Earle, headmaster of Stonyhurst from 1964 to 1971, and later provincial of the Society of Jesus in Britain – The judge at his trial concluded that three charges of indecent assault against one boy dating back to 1971 had to be dropped because of an agreement that was made at the time between the solicitor representing the boy’s parents and the Jesuits’ solicitors
After stepping down from Stonyhurst, Earle became an assistant to the Provincial for Education; he also became co-editor of The Way, the Jesuit journal of Ignatian spirituality. For three years he was Rector of St Aloysius’s College, Glasgow (Fr. George Earle. 1978 – 1981), with overall responsibility for the Jesuit parish and school. To the further surprise of many members of the Society, he was chosen to head the Jesuits’ English province, which was renamed the British province at his instigation.
One of his special concerns was the Society’s South African region, but he was not pleased when it was suggested that this was because he was preparing a comfortable billet for when he had completed his six years in office.
After a sabbatical, Earle assisted the South African bishops’ conference with the training of priests, and proved a popular retreat giver. When the allegations about his headmastership emerged, Earle returned to Britain, later joining the staff of the Jesuit Refugee Service at Osterley, Middlesex, helping asylum seekers.
Chris Patten attends a mass with newly appointed cardinals held by Pope Francis at St Peter’s
Chris Patten to take up media adviser role to Pope Francis
Former Conservative MP takes up new role only two months after dramatically quitting as chairman of BBC Trust due to heart problems
09 Jul 2014
He most recently was head of the organisation that oversaw the BBC, enduring three turbulent years as Britain’s public broadcaster battled a series of scandals.
He stood down in May after heart surgery, saying he needed to reduce the range of roles he undertook.
Why, then, would he undertake such a significant role?
Jimmy Savile: BBC boss Lord Patten rejects call for independent investigation …
Daily Mail
Chris Patten accused of a cover-up on BBC Savile probe
Jimmy Savile photographed in the library at Fort Augustus Catholic school
Sexual predator Jimmy Savile was regular visitor to Catholic school at centre of abuse scandal
FORMER BBC presenter was frequently invited to Fort Augustus Abbey by Benedictine Order monks.
Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien, a good friend of Savile’s, was also a regular visitor at the school.
The revelations of Savile’s visits to the school came as it emerged that many more pupils have stepped forward to claim they, too, were victims of monk teachers.
Savile spent much of his time in the Highlands even before buying a cottage in Glencoe in 1998, which was just over an hour’s drive from Fort Augustus.
Fort Augustus was used as a “dumping ground” for problem clergy who had confessed to abusing children.
O’Brien, who was forced to leave Scotland earlier this year after being forced to admit to inappropriate sexual behaviour, was guest of honour at the school’s old boys’ dinner last year.
The pair met when O’Brien was priest at St Patrick’s Church in Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, in 1971.
Savile was a regular visitor because his mother Agnes was friends with O’Brien’s colleague, Fr Denis O’Connell.
Five men claimed on the Sins Of Our Fathers documentary that they were raped or sexually abused by Father Aidan Duggan, an Australian monk who taught at Carlekemp and Fort Augustus between 1953 and 1974.
A 61-year-old man from Glasgow has told the BBC he was sexually abused on a football trip to Manchester United in the late 1960s.
James, who wants to keep his anonymity, believes he was “trafficked” to English football clubs by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic order which ran his school.
He said he was repeatedly abused by the brothers at his primary school.
In a statement, Manchester United said it had found no information relating to the Marist Brothers in its review.
The Old Trafford club looked into historical abuse as part of the English FA’s inquiry, led by barrister Clive Sheldon QC.
It is looking at the way clubs or the FA dealt with concerns over child sex abuse between 1970 and 2005.
Initiation ceremony
However, James said he thought his abuse happened on a trip in 1969, when he was 12 or 13.
James told the BBC he was in a group of “elite” young footballers who were selected by his school to take part in a tournament in Manchester.
The boys were taken to Old Trafford and the club’s training ground, where they played matches and toured the stadium, the boot room and directors’ offices.
James said he had visions of becoming a Manchester United player like his heroes George Best and Bobby Charlton but he said he was taken from the hostel where the boys were staying and sexually abused.
He said he did not know who abused him but he was taken outside as part of an “initiation ceremony”.
“It was non-consensual sex,” he said.
“Adult and a child.”
James said he did not know if other young footballers were also abused.
“None of us ever spoke about it,” he said.
According to James, he was not aware at the time that it was abuse.
It was portrayed as part of the “football journey” of going down to the club and possibly becoming a professional footballer.
He said: “I believe I was forced to do it because of my previous experience. I thought there was no escape, I had to take the action.”
His previous abuse was at the hands of the Marist Brothers who ran his primary school, the Sacred Heart Primary School in the east end of Glasgow.
James said he was regularly beaten around the lower body by branches with thorns, belts or by hand for not knowing the answers to questions about the Mass.
He told the BBC he would soil himself when he was beaten and his sister would be sent for to take him out of class.
Grooming process
“That then led to an increase in the abuse which began by befriending you, telling you that you weren’t a bad person, you were a good person,” he said.
“All part of the grooming process, then on to sitting on the knee,.
“Then, after the beatings, removing the clothing to make sure there were no marks.
“And then other sexual activity.”
The beatings stopped when James moved to high School.
But a more sinister form of abuse began, he said.
James said he was sent to the former Fort Augustus Abbey Roman Catholic boarding school
He was also sent to Pluscarden Abbey. Both were run by the Benedictine order.
He said he was abused by monks there.
James said he was also abused when his football team were sent to English football clubs.
“I realise now I was trafficked,” he said.
“I didn’t realise that at the time.
“But there is a link between the abuse in the primary school – the Marist Brothers.
“A link to the Marist Brothers sending me to Fort Augustus and Pluscarden to the Benedictines and the Marist Brothers then sending me to the football clubs.”
He said: “My understanding was these clubs were more or less looking at us for potentially signing for the clubs.
“The type of player I was playing football with went on to be professional football players, to be professional football managers and professional coaches at the highest level in the Scottish Football Association.”
Internal investigation
Manchester United said: “We have no knowledge or records of any allegations of this nature.
“However, If we are provided with further details and they allege involvement of anyone connected with the club, we will of course investigate further and involve all appropriate authorities.”
The Marist Brothers no longer run schools in Scotland but they maintain a house in Glasgow.
In a statement the order’s lawyers said it took all allegations against it seriously, and referred them to police and an internal investigation.
It said: “The allegations in question were investigated by the police, and the Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Service confirmed our clients have done all that is possible regarding the allegations made.”
“James wants the public to know about the scandal of the historic trafficking of children round the UK.
“He wants more survivors of sexual abuse to come forward so that the perpetrators of this abuse and the institutions that protected them are held to account and we will continue to support him as he campaigns to achieve this.”
Priest, Father Paul Moore , convicted 20 years after first confessing
14 March 2018
Moore was sent to Fort Augustus after allegedly admitting child abuse to the bishop
An 82-year-old Catholic priest who confessed to his bishop more than 20 years ago that he had abused young boys has finally been convicted.
Father Paul Moore has been found guilty of sexually abusing three children and a student priest in crimes spanning more than 20 years.
One of his victims was just five years old.
A BBC Scotland investigation reported five years ago that Moore had admitted in 1996 that he had abused more than one boy years earlier, and it was initially covered up by the bishop.
The then Bishop of Galloway, Maurice Taylor, did not contact the authorities about the priest’s confession until eight months later. Instead, he sent him to a treatment centre in Toronto.
Bishop Taylor removed the priest from his parish in Prestwick, Ayrshire, and later sent him to Fort Augustus Abbey in the Highlands, which was run by Benedictine monks.
The attached school was by this time closed, but the abbey remained open. That is where Moore joined monk Richard White – who was also a self-confessed paedophile, later jailed for five years for child abuse.
The 2013 BBC documentary Sins of Our Fathers told how Moore was still living in a house which was purchased by the church.
Bishop Taylor said Moore had told him about actions that “occurred years previously”, and that the priest was removed from the pastoral ministry after the admission.
The bishop said: “The initial advice I was given was that since no allegations had been made against Moore but that he had made personal admission to me, I didn’t need to inform the authorities.”
The bishop said he arranged a meeting with the procurator fiscal in Kilmarnock in November 1996.
He said: “The Crown Office informed us in 1999 that they had decided not to proceed with any action but the case remained open.”
It was only when the victims came forward after the BBC documentary that the criminal case was brought.
n 2013, the BBC revealed claims by a former altar boy that he had been abused by Moore.
Two years later, Paul Smyth waived his anonymity to speak to a follow-up investigation.
He said: “I just want people to know the truth, I’m not running away any more.”
Mr Smyth told the BBC how he’d been sexually assaulted on Irvine beach when he was 11.
He eventually told the police what happened in 1997, the year after Moore apparently admitted the abuse to Bishop Taylor.
n 2013, the BBC revealed claims by a former altar boy that he had been abused by Moore.
Two years later, Paul Smyth waived his anonymity to speak to a follow-up investigation.
He said: “I just want people to know the truth, I’m not running away any more.”
Mr Smyth told the BBC how he’d been sexually assaulted on Irvine beach when he was 11.
He eventually told the police what happened in 1997, the year after Moore apparently admitted the abuse to Bishop Taylor.
Also in the 2015 follow-up, the BBC revealed a second man, another former altar server and now in his late 40s, was abused by Moore for several years as a teenager in Ayrshire.
The investigation obtained a copy of a £10,000 cheque given to the man by Moore in 2009.
Moore denied the cheque was “hush money” and says it was meant as a loan.
Moore being shown the cheque by Mark Daly
When confronted, Moore denied that he had confessed any child abuse to Bishop Taylor.
He accepted he was aware the man had made allegations against him, and was asked if he accepted that a payment to an alleged victim may look like “hush money”.
He responded: “Sure, it looks now, I realise that now in these times but it’s not that, it wasn’t hush money.
“In the Bible it says lend without hope of getting things back… as far as I’m concerned he can keep it.”
Asked if the two men were lying about the abuse claims, Moore said: “No, they’re not lying. They think that’s what it is. But it’s not.”
Some of the abuse was alleged to have taken place at St Mark’s Primary School in Irvine
The court case also heard from another man, now in his 40s, who told how Moore sexually assaulted him at St Mark’s primary school in Irvine in 1976.
Nowadays that crime would have been classed as rape.
Another man told of an occasion when he was abused at Irvine’s Magnum Centre when he was still a child.
Moore was ordained in 1960 and served in six different parishes in the south west of Scotland before retirement.
In 1995, he abused a student priest and around the same time he was found to have repeatedly stared at the bodies of young boys in Prestwick swimming pool.
Soon after this he made his confession to the bishop.
Bishop Taylor was told of the abuse in 1996
Bishop Taylor, who is now 92, appeared in court and said Moore had admitted to him in 1996 that he had a desire to abuse minors and he knew it was wrong.
He spoke of abusing boys while they slept and others at a swimming pool.
The bishop was shown personnel records he had taken in 1996 when Moore asked to see him.
He told the bishop he had sexual involvement with two males who had been underage at the time.
Fury at sex abuse inquiry snub: Ex pupils ‘devastated’ by bombshell U-turn
May 15 2017
VICTIMS who claim they suffered horrific sexual abuse at a Scots school have been snubbed by an official inquiry – despite being backed by the PM who said they helped set it up.
When she was Home Secretary, Theresa May wrote to a former pupil of Fort Augustus Abbey school to thank him for his “invaluable” help setting up the English Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in 2015.
But the evidence of former Scottish pupils like him who attended that infamous boarding school is now unlikely to be heard at the powerful inquiry in London.
Last week, Fort Augustus Abbey was left off the list of schools to be examined by the IICSA later this year.
The snub has prompted fury among those who claim their lives were ruined by what they experienced at the boarding school.
Last night one victim told The Sunday Post: “This has come out of the blue. We’ve been waiting a long time for the inquiry.
“The effect is devastating on our mental health. There have been a number of suicides by ex-pupils because of the abuse.”
He said former pupils are very upset at the bombshell development, especially given Prime Minister May’s earlier support.
In 2015, Theresa May wrote to one of Fort Augustus’s ex-pupils following a number of meetings between the pair where they discussed the alleged abuse he suffered.
Having set up the inquiry less than two weeks previously, she wrote: “With your help we have now established an inquiry to get to the truth about what child sexual abuse occurred in institutions across the UK and why nothing was done.”
But those words now seem empty, after lawyers for Fort Augustus Abbey pupils were contacted last week to reveal the shock evidence reversal.
Fort Augustus Abbey – which was run by an order of English monks – is at the centre of allegations of physical and sexual abuse spanning 30 years.
The exclusive Highlands school shut for good in 1993 but horrific allegations about the way pupils were treated emerged in 2013.
Last year, the English Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse announced those claims would be examined – despite the school being in Scotland.
There is a Scottish inquiry set up to probe similar issues north of the border called the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
But campaigners say the English inquiry has been given more clout to take action, which is why ex-pupils from Fort Augustus lobbied to be included in it.
A spokeswoman for the IICSA said the institutions to be examined were still not set in stone – despite the new proposals.
She said: “No decisions of any sort have been made about the matters to be considered at the hearing.”
at centre of sexual abuse allegations resigns from university post
Father Francis Davidson has been accused of failing to act on reports during time at Fort Augustus Abbey School in Highlands.
15 AUG 2013
A FORMER headmaster of a boarding school at the centre of sexual abuse allegations has resigned from a role at Oxford University.
Father Francis Davidson has been accused of failing to act on reports during his time at the Catholic Fort Augustus Abbey School in the Highlands in the 1970s.
He has quit as monastic superior of the Benedictine college St Benet’s Hall, where he was responsible for the welfare of student monks at the university.
Alleged victims who attended the Abbey school told a BBC Scotland investigation that they were molested and beaten by monks over a period of three decades from the 1950s.
It has also been claimed that abuse was carried out at Carlekemp, its feeder school in East Lothian. Both schools are now closed.
FORT AUGUSTUS ABBEY (Photo: Peter Jolly)
Police are investigating the allegations.
One former pupil told the BBC that he told Fr Davidson personally of the abuse but the monks remained in the Abbey. Fr Davidson is the only surviving headmaster of the school.
In a statement issued to the BBC, Fr Davidson offered his sympathies to former pupils for any historic abuse and said he was “shocked and saddened” to hear of the allegations.
He added: “I do not recall them being reported to me during my time as headmaster of Fort Augustus Abbey School.
“As investigations into matters at Fort Augustus Abbey School and Carlekemp Priory School are ongoing, I have stepped aside from my role as religious superior at St. Benet’s Hall.”
Earlier this month, one of Scotland’s most senior Catholics apologised to former pupils amid the claims.
Hugh Gilbert, the Bishop of Aberdeen, said: “It is a most bitter, shaming and distressing thing that in this former Abbey School a small number of baptised, consecrated and ordained Christian men physically or sexually abused those in their care.”
Anne Houston, chief executive of charity CHILDREN 1ST, said: “The focus here must always remain on what’s best for those who were abused in the past and what will make a positive difference to them; that and helping protect children now and in future by taking steps to minimise the risk of this ever happening again.
“It is crucial that the church fully and openly co-operates with the ongoing police investigation and passes on any and all relevant information it may have relating to any allegations of abuse at these schools.”
The name had come up in conversation at IHT’s cottage when JDS (Headmaster John Shippen) and IHT were discussing Mr. Slater, who had been a CH Housemaster and formerly a monk at Ampleforth.
Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire is accused of being a “honeypot” for offenders
Forty monks and teachers have been accused of sexually abusing boys at a leading Roman Catholic school that allegedly became a “honeypot” for offenders, it was revealed yesterday.
Reports of child sex offences at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire were disclosed yesterday at a public hearing of an inquiry into the handling of abuse allegations by the Catholic church.
As a case study, the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) is examining safeguarding policies at two fee-paying boarding schools run by the English Benedictine Congregation — Ampleforth, and Downside in Somerset. Riel Karmy-Jones, QC, counsel to the inquiry, said that it would consider the prevalence of child abuse within the Catholic church and the extent to which Catholic culture “has or does inhibit the proper investigation and prevention” of such crimes.
Since 1996 three monks and two lay teachers at Ampleforth have been convicted of sex offences against pupils, but Ms Karmy-Jones said that the inquiry had been notified of multiple allegations against about 40 monks and teachers.
In an opening statement on behalf of 29 abuse survivors Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon, the law firm, said that the “temptation to cover up” such crimes was “particularly acute in institutions associated with the Roman Catholic Church”. He said: “Where reputation is key to an organisation’s existence, there is likely to be an almost overwhelming desire to find some way of avoiding the bad publicity associated with child sex abuse.” Shared awareness among child abusers that their misconduct would be covered up, or dealt with in-house, explained why “some institutions become honeypots where multiple offenders operate”.
Mr Scorer urged the inquiry to consider recommending a change in the law to make failure to report abuse a criminal offence.
On behalf of 14 victims and survivors, David Enright said that it was “very difficult to explain” to a non-Catholic “the power and depth of influence the Catholic church exerts over its members. The abusers were not only men in positions of trust; they were seen by the abused, and their families, as spokesmen for the God they worship. It is hard to imagine a greater hold that a child abuser could have over his victim.”
Matthias Kelly, QC, counsel for Ampleforth, said that the school and the abbey wanted “to apologise for the hurt, injury, distress and damage done to those who were abused as a result of our failings”. He said that the school’s policy today was one of “full, transparent and immediate co-operation with the statutory agencies”.
For Downside and the English Benedictine Congregation, Kate Gallafent, QC, said that the Catholic church was committed to giving the inquiry “its full co-operation. The congregation expresses profound shame that any child has been the victim of sexual abuse whilst in the care of the schools connected with its abbeys.”
Former pupils tell inquiry of sexual abuse by priests at Ampleforth College
Boys as young as six allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted at Roman Catholic school in Yorkshire, inquiry into child abuse hears
29 Nov 2017
Priests at a leading Roman Catholic school abused boys as young as six, including beatings and sexual assaults, the national inquiry into child abuse has heard.
Former pupils at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire gave evidence to a hearing in London on Wednesday, and written statements by other former pupils were read.
Many of the allegations centred on two priests, Piers Grant-Ferris who was jailed for two years in 2006 for 20 counts of indecent assault on boys in his care, and another priest referred to as RCF4.
One witness who spent 11 years at Ampleforth College and its preparatory school Gilling Castle from 1965 to 1976, said RCF4 had treated him “disgracefully”. “He was physically violent from the outset… I was physically and psychologically abused,” he told the hearing. RCF4 had been “nasty, cruel and physically violent towards me”.
In his second year, when the witness was eight years old, he said Grant-Ferris would walk behind boys sitting at long refectory tables for meals and select children for beatings. “If he stopped behind you and tapped you, then you knew it was you. If he stopped behind someone else and tapped them, one thing that disturbs me to this day is the feeling of relief that it wasn’t going to be me,” he said.
Once he was beaten in the chapel confessional by the priest after being told to take off his clothes. “It was always with his hands … and his hands would always linger on one’s bare bottom after each smack.”
On another occasion, the witness said Grant-Ferris told him to undress and lie face down on the priest’s bed. “He proceeded to take my temperature rectally. I didn’t even know people could have their temperatures taken rectally, I’d only ever had a thermometer put in my mouth. I begged him not to do it, because I didn’t know what was happening, but he continued anyway. I think technically that was a form of rape.”
Grant-Ferris, the son of a Tory peer, was “the full authority figure” the witness told the hearing. At the school, there were “sexual overtones and currents all the time”, he added.
After he left school, the witness suffered a “total psychological collapse” which lasted seven or eight years. “I wasn’t able to do anything, I couldn’t function.”
He said he believed that Basil Hume, who was abbot of Ampleforth Abbey for 13 years until appointed archbishop of Westminster in 1976, had been aware of abuse at the schools. “I have no doubt he knew exactly what was going on at the time.”
Another witness, who was sent to Gilling Castle at the age of six, told the hearing that he and other boys would cry under their blankets at night as monks wearing long black robes patrolled the dormitories. Grant-Ferris was known as “Pervy Piers” among the children, he said.
According to yet another statement, Grant-Ferris was “handsome and aristocratic” with a perpetual mood of excitement.
This witness also described how another teacher had put his hand down the boy’s trousers “to check my breathing” when he was auditioning for the choir. As a result of his experiences, he said: “I became a very quiet child who didn’t talk to people much.”
The inquiry also heard from a female former pupil at Ampleforth College, who left the school in 2010. She said that a music teacher, Dara De-Cogan, had sexually abused her over a period of years. De-Cogan was jailed for 28 months earlier this year pleading guilty to 10 charges of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust.
The witness said that he had groomed her from the age of 13, and his abuse resulted in her self-harming. “I thought I deserved to be punished somehow for what I was doing … [self-harming] gave me a sense of numbness.”
On some occasions, De-Cogan gave her marks out of 10 for oral sex, she said. “He would comment on it as if it was a piece of homework.”
Child protection procedures at Ampleforth were “very poor”, she said. Because of earlier convictions of monks, the college had an “obsessive emphasis on the completion of paperwork, but common sense and looking at what was in front of their faces – that went by the wayside.”
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse began a three-week hearing on Monday focusing on the Benedictine schools of Ampleforth and Downside. In some cases, abusers were permitted to stay in their posts and allowed to have contact with children and other vulnerable individuals, the hearing was told earlier this week.
Former pupils tell inquiry of sexual abuse by priests at Ampleforth College
Boys as young as six allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted at Roman Catholic school in Yorkshire, inquiry into child abuse hears
29 Nov 2017
Priests at a leading Roman Catholic school abused boys as young as six, including beatings and sexual assaults, the national inquiry into child abuse has heard.
Former pupils at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire gave evidence to a hearing in London on Wednesday, and written statements by other former pupils were read.
Many of the allegations centred on two priests, Piers Grant-Ferris who was jailed for two years in 2006 for 20 counts of indecent assault on boys in his care, and another priest referred to as RCF4.
One witness who spent 11 years at Ampleforth College and its preparatory school Gilling Castle from 1965 to 1976, said RCF4 had treated him “disgracefully”. “He was physically violent from the outset… I was physically and psychologically abused,” he told the hearing. RCF4 had been “nasty, cruel and physically violent towards me”.
In his second year, when the witness was eight years old, he said Grant-Ferris would walk behind boys sitting at long refectory tables for meals and select children for beatings. “If he stopped behind you and tapped you, then you knew it was you. If he stopped behind someone else and tapped them, one thing that disturbs me to this day is the feeling of relief that it wasn’t going to be me,” he said.
Once he was beaten in the chapel confessional by the priest after being told to take off his clothes. “It was always with his hands … and his hands would always linger on one’s bare bottom after each smack.”
On another occasion, the witness said Grant-Ferris told him to undress and lie face down on the priest’s bed. “He proceeded to take my temperature rectally. I didn’t even know people could have their temperatures taken rectally, I’d only ever had a thermometer put in my mouth. I begged him not to do it, because I didn’t know what was happening, but he continued anyway. I think technically that was a form of rape.”
Grant-Ferris, the son of a Tory peer, was “the full authority figure” the witness told the hearing. At the school, there were “sexual overtones and currents all the time”, he added.
After he left school, the witness suffered a “total psychological collapse” which lasted seven or eight years. “I wasn’t able to do anything, I couldn’t function.”
He said he believed that Basil Hume, who was abbot of Ampleforth Abbey for 13 years until appointed archbishop of Westminster in 1976, had been aware of abuse at the schools. “I have no doubt he knew exactly what was going on at the time.”
Another witness, who was sent to Gilling Castle at the age of six, told the hearing that he and other boys would cry under their blankets at night as monks wearing long black robes patrolled the dormitories. Grant-Ferris was known as “Pervy Piers” among the children, he said.
According to yet another statement, Grant-Ferris was “handsome and aristocratic” with a perpetual mood of excitement.
This witness also described how another teacher had put his hand down the boy’s trousers “to check my breathing” when he was auditioning for the choir. As a result of his experiences, he said: “I became a very quiet child who didn’t talk to people much.”
The inquiry also heard from a female former pupil at Ampleforth College, who left the school in 2010. She said that a music teacher, Dara De-Cogan, had sexually abused her over a period of years. De-Cogan was jailed for 28 months earlier this year pleading guilty to 10 charges of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust.
The witness said that he had groomed her from the age of 13, and his abuse resulted in her self-harming. “I thought I deserved to be punished somehow for what I was doing … [self-harming] gave me a sense of numbness.”
On some occasions, De-Cogan gave her marks out of 10 for oral sex, she said. “He would comment on it as if it was a piece of homework.”
Child protection procedures at Ampleforth were “very poor”, she said. Because of earlier convictions of monks, the college had an “obsessive emphasis on the completion of paperwork, but common sense and looking at what was in front of their faces – that went by the wayside.”
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse began a three-week hearing on Monday focusing on the Benedictine schools of Ampleforth and Downside. In some cases, abusers were permitted to stay in their posts and allowed to have contact with children and other vulnerable individuals, the hearing was told earlier this week.
Top public school suspends child sex charges teacher
3 Mar 2017
THE head of music at a prestigious private school has been suspended following allegations he sexually assaulted a pupil three decades ago.
Sean Ambrose Farrell, 49, denied two charges of indecent assault and two charges of gross indecency when he appeared before York magistrates last week.
All four offences are alleged to have been committed against a child aged under 14 at the time at Ampleforth College’s junior school.
Farrell, of Riddings Road, Ilkley, was released on bail on condition that he has no unsupervised contact with children aged under 16.
He has been removed from his post at Wellington College, in Berkshire – which counts the late actor Sir Christopher Lee and Will Young among its alumni – several months ago after North Yorkshire Police launched an investigation.
A Wellington College spokesman said: “In line with our safeguarding procedures, Wellington suspended the member of staff concerned and excluded him from the school site as soon as it was made aware that the police were investigating these accusations.”
Monk ‘who ran sex club involving young boys’ at country’s top Catholic School ‘remained in his job for eight years after allegations were first made’
Apr 5 2017
Father Jeremy Sierla allegedly ran ‘sex club’ for boys at Ampleforth College
He remained at Catholic school for eight years after allegations first made
Police told he would make pupils perform sex acts in their pyjamas
Investigation began in 2004 but no charges were ever brought against him
Detectives spoke to more than a dozen young men who attended the school’s Junior House between 1990 and 1993 when Father Jeremy was housemaster.
Some recalled the monk whipping boys’ bottoms with his habit, encouraging the pupils to tie him up, showering naked with them and putting his hands under their duvets, the Times reported.
Photos and video clips – none indecent – of Ampleforth pupils were found on Father Jeremy’s computer, including one of a 12-year-old boy holding a rose in his mouth.
Father Sierla, 59, lived and worked at £30,000-a-year college, pictured, until 2012, despite accusations first being made against him eight years previously
The investigation was triggered when the same boy, in his early 20s by 2004, made allegations to police about abuse he claimed Father Jeremy had subjected him to.
The monk was not charged after prosecutors ruled there was insufficient evidence against him, and the CPS said the case file was destroyed years ago, the Times reported.
Father Jeremy continued to work in the abbey shop from 2004 to 2012 and posed for photographs to promote Ampleforth’s own brand Abbey Beer.
A music teacher, Dara de Cogan, who joined Ampleforth in 2004 was jailed last week for sexually abusing a female student during violin lessons.
Dara de Cogan, 58, received a 28-month sentence and will be on the sex offenders register for a decade.
A school spokesman said that Father Jeremy’s continued presence at Ampleforth was approved at a meeting of safeguarding professionals in 2004 and that his case was reviewed again in 2007 by an independent safeguarding commission.
It took a further five years before the Department for Education (DfE)told Ampleforth he should not be allowed on school grounds.
TheDfE said that it was unable to discuss individual cases but stressed it was ‘paramount that children are protected at school and that there are robust safeguards in place’.
It added: ‘Where schools fail to meet standards, we will not hesitate to take action.’
Monk accused of Fort Augustus Abbey abuse arrested in Sydney
23 January 2017
A former Catholic monk accused of child abuse at a Scottish school has been arrested in Australia.
Father Denis “Chrysostom” Alexander was one of several monks accused of abusing boys at the former Fort Augustus Abbey boarding school in the Highlands.
The BBC has learned he has been remanded in custody in Sydney pending his extradition back to Scotland to face trial.
The Crown Office here said it would not comment on legal matters elsewhere.
Father Alexander has always denied the allegations.
In 2013, he was confronted by BBC Scotland in Sydney as part of a documentary which prompted a major police investigation.
Now, three and a half years after that programme, that investigation has taken a significant turn with the former Benedictine monk’s arrest.
He will face a further hearing on Wednesday at the local court in New South Wales, where it will emerge if he will oppose the extradition or not. He will also be entitled to apply for bail.
One of Father Alexander’s accusers, Hugh Kennedy, has previously spoken of his frustration at the length of time it has taken the Scottish authorities to request the extradition of the former monk who is now 80.
One other former Fort Augustus monk is due to face trial in Scotland soon for a series assaults, whilst a further seven cases remain under consideration by the Crown Office in Scotland.
Fr Alexander was returned by the Catholic Church to Australia in 1979, after allegations of abuse were made by another Fort Augustus Abbey pupil, who the BBC has also spoken to.
No report to the police was made, and no warnings were provided about his alleged offending behaviour, to the Church in Australia where Fr Alexander continued as a priest for a further 20 years or more.
He was stripped of his priestly faculties in 2013 after the BBC programme.
Cardinal George Pell accused of sexually abusing two choirboys, book claims
Vatican’s financial chief, who has always denied wrongdoing, faces fresh allegations of abuse, relating to his time as archbishop of Melbourne
Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, is accused of abusing two boys at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in the 1990s
New allegations of child abuse are being levelled against Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s financial chief and the most senior figure in the Australian Catholic church.
Fairfax Media has reported claims contained in a new book, Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell, that he sexually abused two choirboys at St Patrick’s cathedral after becoming archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s.
The author Louise Milligan first flagged these claims on the ABC’s 7.30 Report in July last year. But according to Fairfax Milligan’s book, to be released on Monday, contains details of the accusations that have not been made public before.
After the 7.30 Report Pell accused the ABC of conducting a “scandalous smear campaign.”
Cardinal Pell’s office issued a statement on Saturday saying the cardinal had “not been notified by the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions or Victoria police of the status of their investigations, which have been underway since at least February 2016.”
“Cardinal Pell will not seek to interfere in the course of justice by responding to the allegations made by Melbourne University Press (publisher of Milligan’s book) and media outlets today, other than to restate that any allegations of child abuse made against him are completely false,” the statement said.
“He repeats his vehement and consistent denials of any and all such accusations, and stands by all the evidence he has given to the royal commission.”
The boys, students at St Kevin’s College, sang in the cathedral choir and were allegedly abused by the archbishop in a room somewhere in the precincts of the cathedral. They left the choir and the school shortly afterwards.
Milligan claims one of the choirboys died of a drug overdose in 2014. His mother was subsequently told by the second boy that they had been abused by Pell when they were teenagers at the cathedral.
Milligan writes that both spoke to the Sano taskforce established to investigate allegations that emerged during a parliamentary inquiry in Victoria and the later royal commission into child abuse.
Pell has now been accused of abusing boys at three stages of his career: as a seminarian, a priest and as archbishop of Melbourne.
He has denied all these allegations on a number of occasions. No charges have ever been laid against him in relation to them. The cardinal, prefect of the secretariat for the economy at the Vatican, has stated that he willingly co-operated with the detectives of the Victoria police when they interviewed him in Rome in October last year.
Sano has also investigated allegations that as a young priest Pell abused boys in the swimming pool of his hometown Ballarat. Pell also denies these allegations.
Milligan writes that Pell and his defenders have been able to “bat off or gloss over” the swimming pool allegations by casting them as “horseplay or a bit of rough and tumble … The story of [the choirboys] has no such ambiguity. If these allegations are true, they point to utter, sinful hypocrisy.”
Citing ill health, Pell declined to return to Australia to give evidence to the royal commission in person last year and instead gave evidence by videolink from Rome. In February this year the Australian senate called on the cardinal to return home “to assist the Victorian police and office of public prosecutions with their investigation into these matters.”
Pell dismissed the parliamentary resolution as “an interference on the part of the Senate in the due process of the Victoria Police investigation.”
Ballarat in Western Victoria became an epidemic of clerical paedophilia in the late 20th century. The dark tragedy affects thousands of lives to this day. It is widely acknowledged the Catholic Church protected its worst offenders and moved them on to prey on new unsuspecting communities. But how could offending on this scale have failed to draw the attention of local authorities? Who was protecting whom?
Cardinal George Pell ‘to be CHARGED over child sex abuse allegations’ sending shockwaves through the Catholic Church
Cardinal Pell is not just Australia’s most senior cleric, he is one of the highest-ranking officials in the Catholic world.
For two decades, he has been a frontline figure in the Church’s debate over controversial issues such as homosexuality, Aids and stem cell research.
He has also handled the Church’s official response to allegations of sexual abuse within its Australian ranks during a series of inquiries.
He gave evidence via video link to a Royal Commission into abuse last year.
It is hard to overstate, therefore, the significance of the decision to press charges against him.
When he returns to face those charges in an Australian court, every second will be scrutinised not just by the Australian press, but by members of Catholic congregations across the globe.
Cardinal George Pell will reportedly be summoned to Australia by police
The summons is believed to be related to a child sex abuse investigation
Authorities are expected to announce the possible charges this morning
28 June 2017
Cardinal George Pell is expected to be charged over child sex abuse allegations.
It is understood Cardinal George Pell will be summonsed to Australia from Rome in relation to a child sex investigation by Victoria police.
The summons will be issued today to the 76-year-old head of finances for the Vatican, according to The Australian.
Authorities are expected to provide additional details on the investigation and possible charges this morning.
It is not clear whether the cardinal will return home from Europe or if he will be extradited to face the charges.
Cardinal George Pell is expected to be charged over child sex abuse allegations (pictured eating in Italy)
Cardinal Pell will be summoned to Australia from Rome in relation to a child sex investigation by Victoria police
Cardinal Pell appeared via video-link for a public hearing of Australia’s national child-abuse Royal Commission in early 2015.
When he was asked to fly to Australia to appear in person, he declined, citing health problems.
The Cardinal was interviewed by three detectives from the taskforce in Rome in October 2016, who updated the evidence.
He has strongly denied the allegations of abuse.
The Office of Public Prosecutions submitted a second brief of evidence on Cardinal Pell to the police last month, according to The Herald Sun.
The summary said charges could be laid against Pell based on the evidence but that it was up to the to decide if they wanted to or not.
The Sano taskforce, which investigates allegations of sexual abuse, has been investigating Cardinal Pell since 2016
Police could be powerless to make Cardinal Pell return to Australia because he is so high up in the Vatican that he has diplomatic immunity.
Cardinal Pell was appointed to the Vatican’s Secretariat of Economy in 2014, the third highest ranked position within the church.
His high ranking grants him diplomatic immunity in Australia, meaning he cannot be forced to attend court or provide information, according to legal experts.
New South Wales state parliament member David Shoebridge told the Newcastle Herald in May that Australia had an extradition treaty with Italy, but it did not include the Vatican.
‘[Australia] hasn’t managed in 44 years to get one in place with the tiny pretend nation-state of the Vatican that exists wholly within Rome,’ he said.
‘This is why George Pell can’t be forced back to face questioning.’
Victoria Police will not comment on reports Cardinal George Pell is to be charged by summons over historic child sex abuse allegations.
More protected paedophiles – Thaddeus Kotik of Caldey Island
Another protected Benedictine paedophile – Thaddeus Kotik of Caldey Island
Prince Charles HRH The Prince of Wales meets monks Father Robert, Brother Gabriel, and Acting Abbot Father Daniel during his visit to Caldey Island in 1997
HRH The Prince of Wales meets Mrs Veronica Cattini as she works in the Post Office on Caldey Island today (Saturday). Photo Barry Batchelor/PA. July 26, 1997
Priest jailed for child abuse images lived on scandal-hit Caldey Island
Exclusive: revelations mean that four men convicted or accused of sexual offences against children lived or stayed on tiny monastic Welsh island
Father John Shannon, who was subsequently caught on the mainland with pictures of children as young as nine, lived on the island off the Welsh coast for nine months. Photograph: Archant Cambs/Archant
A priest who was jailed for downloading hundreds of pictures of child sexual abuse is the latest offender to be identified as having close links with the monastic island of Caldey, which is at the centre of a growing scandal.
Father John Shannon, who was subsequently caught on the mainland with pictures of children as young as nine, lived on the island off the Welsh coast for nine months.
The revelation means that four men convicted or accused of sexual offences against children have now been identified as having lived or stayed on Caldey and will increase pressure for an inquiry.
The abbot, Daniel van Santvoort, has confirmed that Shannon, lived on the island in 2008 and 2009.
Shortly afterwards, in 2010, police found 740 indecent images of children on a computer that he had downloaded while working as a lecturer at a Catholic seminary in county Durham. Three of the images were “level five” – of the most serious nature – and 75 were level four.
Shannon’s barrister argued at his client’s sentencing hearing that he had never had a chance to explore his sexuality and viewing the images became a compulsion.
Van Santvoort told the Guardian that Shannon took on the role of priest on a trial basis in 2008 with the abbey’s approval after islanders asked for the parish church of St David’s to be re-opened.
“[Shannon] came with good references and took up residence in a cottage. During this period it was evident the role of a parish priest was not viable and he left the island within nine months of his arrival, in 2009,” the abbot said.
“We understand that some time later, whilst working on the mainland elsewhere in the UK, he was investigated by the police for offences committed on the mainland after he had left the island and was subsequently convicted.
“That inquiry did not involve any allegations of offences committed on the island and the police did not conduct any inquiries on the island in respect of this person. We understand therefore that he had no criminal convictions when he came to the island nor when he left.”
While Shannon was living on the island, Ashton was hiding from police there. Ashton was wanted after police found 5,000 images of child sexual abuse on his computer and in 2011 was found on Caldey , where he had been living under an assumed identity for seven years.
A whistleblower has told the Guardian that another convicted criminal, John Cronin, is suspected to have lived under an assumed name in a cottage owned by the monastery for a month in 2009.
The source said the man they believe to be Cronin left the island suddenly, taking keys to a property and owing money after he was recognised by a monastery employee from online photographs.
Cronin had allegedly requested through the abbey to stay at a monastery property on the island over winter.
However, Van Santvoort said the abbey did not know of Cronin’s alleged stay.
“We have no knowledge of this person whatsoever. The name is completely unfamiliar to us,” he said.
Thaddeus Kotik and two children on Caldey Island. Photograph: Supplied
Another six women and a man have since approached the Guardian alleging abuse by Kotik.
The Conservatives’ children’s spokesman in the Welsh assembly, Darren Millar, has called on the Welsh government to launch an investigation into Caldey Island.
and also on Caldey island – paedophile Paul Ashton who was in charge of their internet – found with 5000 images
Sex offender hid in Caldey Island abbey for seven years
24 Nov 2017
Paul Ashton was found while on the run after his image was posted on a Crimestoppers Most Wanted list
A sex offender lived in the abbey on Caldey Island for seven years while on the run from police until he was found in 2011, taken back to the mainland and jailed.
Paul Ashton lived among the Cistercian monks on the private island off the Pembrokeshire coast in south-west Wales as police searched for him after finding thousands of images of child abuse on his computer. Ashton was finally found after his image appeared on a Crimestoppers Most Wanted gallery.
The abbey has been keen to emphasise that the Kotik allegations are of a historical nature and no members of the current community were on the island at the time. But victims claim there is at least one monk still alive who knew Kotik and say the abbot himself knew Kotik from 1990, two years before the monk died in 1992.
The fact that Ashton, a suspected sex offender wanted by the police, was able to live at the abbey so recently and for so long will cause huge concern.
The current head of the abbey, Daniel van Santvoort, has been abbot since 1999.
Following the Guardian’s revelations about Kotik, whistle-blowers came forward to describe how Ashton lived on the island under the name Robert Judd.
Ashton had been arrested by police in West Sussex in 2004 when officers executed a warrant at his address in Bracklesham Bay. He was given bail while police examined his computers. Officers found more than 5,000 images of children but he had vanished when they returned.
At that time, a man in his 50s calling himself Robert appeared on Caldey. Whistleblowers said Ashton arrived on the island as a monastery guest in 2004 but stayed and moved in.
“When Robert arrived, he offered to help and made himself indispensable,” a whistleblower said. “He operated the island’s satellite internet and phone system, managed online accommodation bookings and the accounts and worked in the mail room. He put himself in an ideal position.”
They said that “Robert” changed his phone number frequently, encrypted his emails and never left the island.
In May 2011, “Robert” further aroused the suspicion of the whistleblower by emailing him that he had “met another family” that included two young boys on the island and had invited them to his private quarters in the monastery.
Curious and worried, the whistleblower began investigating Ashton and discovered that a man called James Robert Judd was named as a director of a cleaning company called St Martins of Caldey, according to Companies House records.
The whistleblower carried on investigating. “ I just knew in my gut that something was wrong,” they said. Eventually an image appearing to be Robert was found on the Crimestoppers site. It named him as Paul Ashton.
“One evening we had a phone call telling us to look at a website and there [Robert] was, on the most wanted list,” he said. “I saved and printed the photo, showed it to the abbot and asked him who it was. He said: ‘That’s Robert of course.’ I asked if he was absolutely sure and he said: ‘Yes without a doubt’.”
Whistleblowers have passed on photographs they took of plainclothes police officers escorting Ashton to the boat Caldey Island II beside the island on 6 July 2011.
At Chichester crown court on 1 March, Ashton admitted possessing more than 5,000 indecent images of children and was jailed for 30 months. The court was told he was found after an anonymous call was made to the Crimestoppers charity.
It heard that South Wales police arrested him in relation to the Sussex inquiry – and said that more computer equipment containing further images were found on his Caldey Island computers.
Speaking after Ashton’s conviction, DC David Midgley, of West Sussex CID, said: “Credit must go to the anonymous informant to Crimestoppers who became suspicious and rang in. Thanks to their actions, Ashton was finally brought to justice after spending nearly eight years in hiding.
“In each image, a child was a victim of crime. The length of the sentence shows how the justice system will punish those who download indecent images of children.”
The Guardian has sought comment from van Santvoort who is believed to be in France but has not yet received a reply.
Six women sued the abbey over the allegations against Kotik and another seven women have now come forward to the Guardian since the article exposed the offender last Saturday. The victims have welcomed calls for an inquiry into the protection of child sex offenders on the island.
On Sunday 9th September 2007 the statue was blessed and dedicated in a moving ceremony conducted jointly by the Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, Peter Smith, and by Bishop Dominic Walker of Monmouth, Church in Wales. A very large crowd gathered for the occasion, in the region of 800 people.
Dominic Edward William Murray Walker OGS DL (born 28 June 1948) is a retired Anglican bishop. He was a canon and prebendary of Chichester Cathedral.
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
Dominic Walker was one of Ball’s biggest supporters and he named POWELL, ABSE and WHITELAW as abusers.
Enoch Powell accused of satanic sex abuse:
The Right Rev Butler was given the politicians’ names by Dominic Walker, former Bishop of Monmouth, who heard the allegations when he was a vicar counselling in the 1980s.
Mr Walker told senior clerics that Abse was named by three abuse survivors whom he counselled when he was a vicar in Brighton in the 1980s.
He also passed on the names of two former Conservative cabinet ministers, who have not yet been publicly linked to the scandal. Mr Walker was questioned by the Right Rev Butler after the discovery of a book from 1991 in which he described counselling sessions with adult survivors.
Dominic Walker, the former Bishop of Monmouth, has told senior clerics that Abse was named by three alleged adult survivors of abuse whom he counselled when he was vicar of Brighton in the 1980s.
When bishops start taking spiritual matters seriously, revival must surely be just around the corner! While Graham Dow (Carlisle), recently liberated from the confines of Rose Castle, emerged to find the cause of Foot and Mouth in a large cursing stone ball, the Bishop of Oxford and all his workers have been far from idle in sniffing out Old Nick.
Oxford football club got in ‘Bomber’ Harries to exorcise the place from a gypsy curse. Those of a certain age will know that Harries has the country’s best-known expert on these matters in his team, the Bishop of Reading, Edward Walker. ‘Dominic’, as he is known since his days in the Bishops Ball’s hand-knitted Community of the Glorious Ascension, told us all about his psychic speciality in a glorious Technicolor spread in… wait for it… SAGA magazine!
True soccer psychics will know that Oxford United is really haunted by the ghost of its former owner – triple agent and part-time fraud, Robert Maxwell. They never recovered from his time in charge.
Dominic Edward William Murray Walker OGS DL (born 28 June 1948) is a retired Anglican bishop.[1] He was the Bishop of Reading, an area bishop, from 1997 to 2002 and Bishop of Monmouth from 2003 to 2013.
Walker was the second child to a Welsh mother and English father. He was brought up on Dartmoor. [2] He was educated at Plymouth College[3] King’s College London, Heythrop College in London and the University of Wales.
Ordained ministry
Walker was ordained priest in 1972.[4] He began his ministry with a curacy at St Faith’s Southwark[5] after which he was domestic chaplain to the Bishop of Southwark,[6] rector of Newington St Mary, Team Rector of St Peter, St Nicholas & the Chapel Royal Brighton, Rural Dean of Brighton and a canon and prebendary of Chichester Cathedral.
Walker never married and became a member of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd. He served as father superior from 1990 to 1996.[4]
Walker was appointed Bishop of Reading, an area bishop in the Diocese of Oxford, in 1997.[4] He then became a diocesan bishop as the Bishop of Monmouth in the Church in Wales in 2003, succeeding Rowan Williams who had become the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England.
Walker’s last episcopal seat was at Newport Cathedral. At the end of 2012, it was announced that he intended to retire, which he did on 30 June 2013.[7] In retirement he is an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon.[4]
Paranormal and exorcisms
Walker is an expert on the paranormal and has published many articles on the topic. He is a trained exorcist[12] and has said that during his 35 years of ordained ministry he has performed “countless acts of deliverance along with six exorcisms”.[12]
In an August 2015 article, which concentrated on the death of Morgan Freeman’s step-granddaughter, Walker rejected the use of violence when performing an exorcism.[13] He argued that an exorcism is the command of the mouth.[clarification needed]
Present
In 2015 the British tabloid press published articles saying that Walker had reported Leo Abse, George Thomas and Enoch Powell to the police as suspected paedophiles.[14] He said that “A number of survivors independently gave the name of a particular MP being involved … I don’t believe there was any collusion in their stories.”[15] Walker went on to tell senior clerics that Abse was named by three abuse survivors whom he had counselled when a vicar in Brighton in the 1980s.
Upon retirement, Walker became a “humble monk”.[16] He has since settled in Monmouth and continues to deliver conference papers and lectures. He lectured in July 2015 at the University of Warwick.[17]
The belief of social workers that children in Nottingham who were sexually abused were also forced to take part in ritual practices connected with Satanism has now been supported by the director of the city’s social services department. In a report issued last week, Mr David White said that “on the basis of the children’s testimony it would be unwise not to accept the possibility that there were ritualistic elements to this case”. Nottingham Police strongly reject the suggestion that ritual practices played any part in the Broxtowe child abuse case, in which ten adults were jailed in February 1989 for offences of incest, indecent assault and cruelty against 23 children in the extended family; a view which Mr White originally shared.
The case became controversial when some of the children, who had been made wards of court after being sexually abused, started to describe experiences of a bizarre nature of which foster parents and social workers had no previous knowledge. They talked, among other things, of being burnt by sticks, of animals sacrificed and of drinking the blood, of witchcraft parties and even of other children being killed. A report commissioned by Mr White and the chief constable of Nottinghamshire, which appeared in December 1989, concluded that there was no evidence of Satanic abuse. It criticised the work of social workers concerned in the case who, it suggested, had unwittingly encouraged children to believe in and allege bizarre abuse.
The new report, which was expected to be approved on Wednesday by Nottinghamshire social services committee, follows intense media interest in the case and the disruption of working relationships between the police and social workers in the city. It praises the work of the specialist group of social workers concerned, and says that “the disclosures made by the children are unlikely to have been created in their minds by the social workers or foster parents”. Having read the diaries of the children involved, Mr White now supports the social workers’ view that even if the children had not suffered each incident physically they were made to believe that they had.
Mr White argues that the case is of national significance in that it challenges the conventional wisdom about how children should be listened to and how matters can be dealt with which are beyond existing knowledge. Mr White’s recommendations include the setting up of a joint police and social service body to review practices and procedures in the field of child protection; and the establishment by the Department of Health of a nationally co-ordinated research programme to monitor the problem and offer guidance.
Social workers in Manchester, who also had been criticised for encouraging children to make up stories of ritual abuse, were defended recently by the Anglican Bishop of Manchester, Stanley BoothClibborn (The Tablet, 6 October). Allegations of ritual abuse have also been made in Rochdale. Canon Dominic Walker, co-chairman of the Christian Deliverance Study Group, which trains Anglican and some Catholic exorcists, told The Tablet that the Churches are concerned and are holding meetings with social workers, police and psychiatrists. “People are fairly convinced that something is going on“, he said, “and that it is not just an invention of fundamentalism. What is not clear is whether it is a new development of Satanism or whether the people involved are paedophiles who are adding Satanic ritual to their practices.”
The secretary to the Committee for Social Welfare of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Mgr Michael Connelly, noted however that no evidence had been produced of ritual practices associated with child abuse. Only one diocese has informed him of such a case.
Caldey Island: Sex offender evaded justice at abbey
March 2012
A fugitive child sex offender fled to a Pembrokeshire island’s abbey to evade justice and remained there for seven years, it has been revealed.
Paul Ashton, from Sussex, went on the run in 2004 charged with possessing indecent images of children.
When he was discovered at Caldey Island in 2011, more indecent images were found on his computer in the monastery.
He was arrested and brought to justice after a visitor recognised him from a Crimestoppers “Most Wanted” list.
The revelation comes after it emerged six women have been paid compensation by Caldey Abbey after they were abused by a monk on Caldey Island in the 1970s and 1980s.
Since that information came to light last week, a further five women have come forward accusing Father Thaddeus Kotik of abusing them.
Allegations were made to the abbey in 1990 but complaints were not passed on to police.
Dyfed Powys Police was eventually made aware of the allegations in 2014 but could not prosecute Kotik as he died in 1992.
The current abbot, Brother Daniel van Santvoort, has apologised the complaints were not referred to police sooner.
Ashton is understood to have arrived on Caldey Island as a guest in 2004, but stayed and moved into the clock tower which overlooks the island.
He was provided with accommodation and food by the monks, who knew him by his alias Robert Judd.
A source said: “When Robert arrived he offered to help and made himself indispensable.
“He operated the island’s satellite internet and phone system, managed online accommodation bookings and the accounts and worked in the mail room.
“He put himself in an ideal position.”
Ashton had absconded from his home in Bracklesham Bay, West Sussex after Sussex Police executed a search warrant and confiscated computers in 2004.
In July 2011, an anonymous call was made to Crimestoppers by someone who had seen Ashton’s face on its “Most Wanted” list, and he was arrested on the island.
Sussex Police said: “They recognised the picture as a man working in south Wales but under a different name… police were informed and local officers swiftly arrested him in relation to the Sussex inquiry.
“More computer equipment containing further images was also found.”
Ashton, then aged 59, pleaded guilty at Chichester Crown Court to possessing more than 5,000 indecent images of children on his computers, hard drives and USB sticks.
He was jailed for 30 months in March 2012 and was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
Wanted paedophile hid in Welsh island monastery for seven years while on the run from police
25 Nov 2017
He aroused suspicion in 2011 when he emailed a whistleblower saying that he had ‘met another family’, including two young boys on Caldey Island and had invited them to his private quarters in the monastery.
Ashton was escorted off the island by plain-clothed police officers on July 6 2011.
Appearing at Chichester Crown Court on March 1, he admitted possessing more than 5,000 indecent images of children and was jailed for 30 months.
The court heard that South Wales Police arrested Ashton in relation to Sussex Police’s inquiry and said more computer equipment containing indecent images was found on Caldey Island.
A 59-year-old man found with more than 5,000 indecent images of children has been jailed after almost eight years in hiding.
Paul Ashton, from Sussex, but of no fixed address, fled the area after he was arrested in 2004.
Ashton was only caught following a tip-off after he was featured on the Crimestoppers Most Wanted list.
He was discovered living in South Wales under an assumed name.
He has now been jailed for 30 months.
Ashton was initially arrested in 2004 after Sussex Police raided his home in Bracklesham Bay and recovered computer equipment.
He was arrested and bailed while officers analysed the hard drive.
His address was searched again a few months later with more computer equipment seized.
Police said all the computers contained numerous indecent images on the hard drive and USB sticks.
Indecent pictures
However, Ashton fled his home and did not answer bail. He was only traced in July last year after someone spotted his photo on the Most Wanted list.
South Wales Police were told and he was arrested, when more computer equipment with further indecent pictures of children was found.
He pleaded guilty at Chichester Crown Court to possessing more than 5,000 indecent images at a hearing on Thursday (March 1).
DC David Midgley, of West Sussex CID, said: “This case highlights how an individual’s criminality will catch up with them – whether it’s weeks, months or years later.
“Credit must go to the anonymous informant to Crimestoppers who became suspicious and rang in. Thanks to their actions, Ashton was finally brought to justice after spending nearly eight years in hiding.
“Ashton recognises that in each image, a child was a victim of crime.
“The length of the sentence shows how the justice system will punish those who download indecent images of children.”
Ashton was also given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and will sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
Paddy Lyons has written a book about the four years he spent inside Caldey Island’s monastery.
when back in Britain as a 26-year-old, despite a new girlfriend and a three-year traineeship with Unilever in Birkenhead.
“I thought I had to try this lifestyle out because it had never gone away and though I first tried the hermit lifestyle of the Carthusian Order I ended up on Caldey Island,” said Mr Lyons, now 74.
He has since been a social worker, a Financial Times journalist, a press officer for what is now the charity Action For Children,has got married to wife Elsie and raised five children in Barnet
Government IT expert is caught with child porn stash… but why did Downing Street keep it secret for six months?
2 August 2014
Not Patrick Rock – Sebastian Crump
Worked for the Cabinet Office – he received promotion at Cabinet Office while he was being investigated
He has spent a decade working in technology and communications for Government offices, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Central Office of Information
He was arrested in January – Patrick Rock was arrested in February
Crump landed a government job after working as a children’s charity website manager, Action for Children, which helps support vulnerable and neglected children, between 1998 and 1999.
Father Paul Satori came to me first; his attitude was totally different from the priest who I had first gone for counseling. He was very understanding and gentle; his concern was that homosexuality was still a criminal offense in the United Kingdom.
The meeting with my parent’s local doctor lasted for about an hour, I was told a lot of young men went through a period in their teenage years of confusion about sexuality and, with the right treatment, I would soon be a normal heterosexual man.
Two days later, against my will and to my horror, I was sectioned in a psychiatric hospital and forced to undergo electric shock treatment. I was kept in a private ward in the psychiatric hospital for three months while I underwent a series of shock treatments. After leaving the hospital, feeling very confused and lonely, Father Satori arranged for me to go on retreat for two weeks at the Caldey Island monastery before returning to university.
Revealed: monk who abused children on ‘crime free’ Caldey Island for decades
17 November 2017
Abuse by a monk who preyed on girls on a tiny island off the coast of Wales was covered up in the 70s and 80s
Kotik offended against the six girls between 1972 and1987, though the women believe there may be many more victims, over many more years.
A former soldier who fought in the Free Polish army during the second world war, Kotik moved to the island in 1947, joined the strict Cistercian order and was ordained a priest in 1956. He lived on the island until his death in 1992. It appears he was never questioned by police and that they were not informed until 2014.
In the late 80s, when she and her family were residents of the island, Emily, then five years old, told the then Abbot Robert O’Brien – who died in 2009 – about Kotik assaulting her. The abbot ordered Kotik to stay inside the monastery enclosure, but Kotik regularly escaped from the monastery grounds and continued to abuse children.
Abbot Robert O’Brien
The girls reported the offences to the principal of their school, St Phillip’s Christian College in Newcastle, New South Wales in the late 1980s. According to Charlotte the deputy principal Richard Rule, who now runs a child care centre, prayed for the students and told them they “didn’t need to talk of this again because God has forgiven everyone”.
Also in 2014, Charlotte emailed the current abbot of Caldey Abbey, Brother Daniel van Santvoort, seeking an acknowledgment of the crimes committed against her and her sister. “The effect that this abuse has had on me has been quietly catastrophic,” she wrote.
No secret
But it wasn’t the first time van Santvoort had heard allegations against Kotik. In a response to Charlotte he wrote: “I have heard occasionally about this serious matter as regards Fr Thaddeus”.
Van Santvoort told her the monastery knew about the monk’s offences and that he had been reprimanded and banned from contact with islanders and visitors in the 1980s, but had not been reported to police. “I am fully aware now of this terrible criminal offence and Fr Thaddeus should have there and then been handed over to the police – something that never happened.”
The island was bought by Anglican benedictine monks in 1906 and it was this group that built the monastery and abbey which sits in the centre of the island.
Now it is home to about 40 residents and a group of about 18 Cistercian monks.
Caldey Island: police investigate second man over sexual abuse claims
Separate investigation comes after it was revealed that Cistercian monk allegedly abused at least 11 girls in 1970s and 80s
Detectives are investigating a second man over accusations of sexual abuse on Caldey Island after it was revealed that a Cistercian monk allegedly abused at least 11 girls in the 1970s and 80s.
Police said the alleged assault took place at about the same time, and the accused was visiting the island off Tenby in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales.
Officers refused to give further details because they said it would jeopardise the investigation, but said he was not a member of the abbey or abbey staff.
The Guardian reported on Friday that six women claimed they were abused as children by Father Thaddeus Kotik.
Since then, it has emerged that five others allegedly suffered abuse, and earlier this week, the head of Caldey Abbey issued an apology acknowledging that allegations of serious child sexual abuse made against Kotik should have been passed on to police.
Dyfed-Powys police are aware of allegations by eight women – the six original complainants and two more who have since come forward. A spokesperson said: “Following the recent media reporting of sexual abuse at Caldey Island, police received two further reports of non-recent sexual abuse.
“They relate to offences committed during the same time period (between 1977 and 1987) and with the same named perpetrator, Thaddeus Kotik. These crimes have been recorded and officers are in contact with the victims during the investigation and to offer specialist support.
“Police have also received one further report of a sexual assault by another male at Caldey Island around the same timeframe. The report has been made by one of the original six victims.
“This is being investigated separately to the Caldey Island abuse and concerns a man who was visiting Caldey Island at the time and no longer lives there. No further information can be released at present as it would jeopardise the investigation.”
Simon Thomas, a Plaid Cymru AM, said: “What is most troubling about this case is that the victims of sexual assault felt that they were not able to make a complaint at the time, and that complaints made were not dealt with properly. As a result the perpetrator was never brought to justice and children grew up bearing the weight of being a victim of these terrible crimes.
“Caldey Island is a landmark on the Welsh coast, and children and tourists visit there every day to learn about the abbey’s history. It’s important that people can visit there with confidence. ”
But journalist Amanda Gearing, who has spoken to victims, said three more women now claim to have been sexually assaulted by Kotik.
One woman who reported her case to police on Monday told the Guardian she broke down and was unable to sleep for 36 hours after reading about Kotik’s abuse of others.
She said her abuse was “low level compared with others” but it happened when she was sat next to Kotik on a bench.
“He put his hand up my top. Then his hand went up my back and under my arms. I squirmed away from him and walked away. I didn’t go near him after that,” she said.
Another woman told the Guardian she and her two sisters were abused by Kotik, but claimed there was pressure by both the church and family for victims to “shut up”.
Kotik befriended families who regularly visited the island. After gaining the trust of parents he would babysit the children and sexually abuse them, court papers have suggested.
There are fears there could be more victims and calls have been made for an independent inquiry by the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors group.
Inquiry calls into abuse complaints on Caldey Island
21 Nov 2017
There are calls for an independent inquiry into allegations of historical sexual abuse at an abbey on Caldey Island off Pembrokeshire.
It’s understood six women were paid compensation following claims against a monk – Thaddeus Kotik in the 70s and 80s. But it’s feared there could be more potential victims.
Police say they did receive reports of historic sexual abuse but could not proceed with a prosecution because the monk died in 1992.
Now a support group, Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors, says an independent investigation should take place and the abbey should apologise.
Six women have received an out of court settlement, after claims they were abused by the monk Father Thaddeus Kotik when they visited the island as children in the 1970s and 80s.
Three of them shared their experiences with Australian journalist Amanda Gearing:
The effect of the abuse on these women has been particularly severe – partly because of the threats made against them which separated them from their parents.
The offender told them that if the children reported what was happening their parents would not want them anymore and would leave them on the island with him
– Journalist Amanda Gearing
It is claimed Brother Thaddeus Kotik groomed, and sexually assaulted the children of families staying on the island and although they spoke out at the time, no formal action was taken.
It wasn’t until almost thirty years later the crimes were brought to the attention of the police. By that time, Kotik had been dead for two decades.
Dyfed-Powys Police told ITV News that “Appropriate professional support was offered and the matter was drawn to a close.”
Dyfed-Powys Police can confirm that in 2014 and 2016 it received reports of non-recent sexual abuse that occurred at Caldey Island with the named offender being the deceased Thaddeus Kotik.
These reports were recorded as crimes and victims contacted by police. During the investigation, information was obtained to confirm that the perpetrator was deceased and therefore a prosecution was not possible.
Dyfed-Powys Police always encourages anyone who has suffered abuse to come forward and report it by calling 101.
– Dyfed Powys Police
The Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Sally Holland, says although action should be taken, it’s too early to call for an enquiry.
“I’ve been in contact with the National Catholic Safeguarding Advice Service and also have written directly to the abbey on Caldey Island to seek reassurance that they are following the Catholic churches national safeguarding policies and procedures on child protection.”
The victims believe they’re not alone. and that Kotik – who lived on the island for 45 years – abused others.
ITV News has contacted Caldey Abbey for comment but has not yet had a response.
Married chief constable used police force credit card to entertain his mistress – and skipped meetings to see her
Terry Grange, a married father of three, retired from his post after 30 years’ service, at Dyfed-Powys Police last November after the woman made a series of damaging allegations.
She said that they had exchanged ‘politically insensitive’ and ‘sexually explicit’ emails between his force computer system and her account.
Yesterday, the IPCC upheld all four of the
allegations it investigated. Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Grange, 57, for misconduct in a public office or obtaining monies by deception.
He will not face a police misconduct inquiry because he is retired.
Grange had regular dealings with the Government as spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers on child protection and the management of sex offenders.
Caldey Abbey apology over handling of monk sex abuse claims
22 Nov 2017
An abbey at the centre of child sexual abuse allegations has apologised that claims against one of its monks were not passed to police.
Eleven women allege Father Thaddeus Kotik abused them on Caldey Island, Pembrokeshire, in the 1970s and 1980s.
A letter shows Kotik’s abuse was reported to abbot Brother Robert O’Brien in 1990, but not to police.
Caldey Abbey said they should have been reported, adding: “This clearly did not happen and we apologise.”
In a statement, current abbot Brother Daniel van Santvoort said: “It was with great sadness and regret that we heard allegations of historical sexual abuse involving Father Thaddeus who died in 1992.
“Any allegations of child abuse should be reported to the appropriate authorities and investigated. This clearly did not happen and we apologise.”
Brother Daniel said at the time the incidents were alleged to have taken place, the present Caldey Abbey Community was not on the island, which exacerbated the difficulties of the claims.
He said he knew nothing of the allegations when he first came to the island in 1990, or when he later became abbot in 1999, but said he forwarded the matter to police and the abbey’s solicitors in 2014 when he was contacted by a claimant.\
Brother Daniel said: “I acted at every step with compassion and empathy, and expressed my regret and sorrow at any such abuse. I flew to Australia to meet two claimants expressly to apologise.”
He continued: “I am truly sorry that my predecessors did not report allegations to the police and I am sorry that as an abbey, it has taken so long to compensate for these claims.
“Caldey Abbey has worked to ensure this can never be repeated. We now have robust child protection procedures in place on the island including a child protection coordinator.”
“As abbot, I very much regret any harm caused to any layperson as a result of the actions of one of my community, and strive to ensure that every visitor to Caldey enjoys only peace, comfort and the feeling of wellbeing,” he added.
Brother Daniel said the abbey was working with Children’s Commissioner for Wales, however Sally Holland has denied that is the case.
She has advised anyone with concerns to contact police or the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Truth Project, so allegations can be considered.
Brother Daniel added the abbey would fully cooperate with its inquiry and any other investigation.
THE LEADING CATHOLIC SCHOOL WITH A ‘TERRIBLE LEGACY’
St Benedict’s reputation as one of the UK’s leading Catholic schools has been blighted by a ‘terrible legacy’ of sex abuse by paedophile priests.
Soper is one of seven senior figures either convicted or accused of preying on pupils at the £15,000-a-year private school during the last 25 years.
Former headmaster Christopher Cleugh admitted the school ‘could have, and should have, done more’ to protect victims following a damning 2011 inquiry which concluded that Ealing Abbey monks had to lose their control of the school.
TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS AND CONVICTIONS:
1992: The junior school’s former headmaster Father David Pearce is accused of sexually abusing a boy, but police take no further action.
2001: Former abbot Rev Dom Martin Shipperlee receives complaint about Pearce and makes police aware of it.
2003: Former middle school master John Maestri admits three counts of indecent assault against two pupils between 1980 and 1984.
2005: Maestri pleads guilty to another count of indecent assault relating to a sex attack in 1982.
2006: The High Court awards damages to one of Pearce’s victims.
2007: Rev Shipperlee allows Pearce to return to Ealing Abbey as bursar. Pearce sexually assaults a child within months.
2007: Father Stanislaus Hobbs, part of St Benedict’s middle school staff between 1969-1984, stands trial for one count of indecent assault in 1984 but is cleared by a jury.
2008: Former middle school headmaster Father Anthony Gee is accused of caning a boy on his bare buttocks but no further action is taken.
2009: Father David Pearce is charged with 22 counts of indecent assault against six boys between 1975 and 2007 – prosecutors accepted his guilty pleas to 11 of the charges.
2009: Maestri admits one count of indecent assault between 1979 and 1981.
2010: Father Gregory Chillman is accused of one indecent assault between 1975-76, but no further action was taken.
2010: Two female pupils at another school complain about Father Chillman’s ‘inappropriate’ behaviour in 2004 and he is later put on restricted ministry and barred from access to children.
2010: St Benedict’s teacher John Skelton is convicted of indecent assaults against two pupils in 1983.
2011: Pearce is charged with four counts of indecent assault against another boy between 1977 and 1978, but he was cleared following a trial.
2011: Maestri is charged with three counts of indecent assault against another former pupil but is cleared by a jury.
2011: Former headmaster Christopher Cleugh apologises for ‘terrible legacy’ of sex abuse following damning inquiry by Lord Carlile.
2011: Father Andrew Soper withdraws £182,000 from his Vatican bank account and flies to Albania while on bail for sex offences against pupils.
2016: Deputy head of St Benedict’s Peter Allott, 37, is jailed for ‘getting hooked on child pornography’ and taking part in chemsex ‘paedophile sex parties’
2017: Soper convicted of 19 sex attacks on pupils at St Benedict’s in the 1970s and 1980s following an Old Bailey trial.
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Peter Ball with Vickery House in 1986
2001
goodnessandharmony 
(London, Greater London, England)
28 Aug 1996, Wed • Page 27