Archbishop Carey ‘failed to pass priest abuse claims on to police’, inquiry told
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey delayed a “proper investigation” into a senior priest’s paedophile crimes for two decades by failing to pass information to police, an inquiry heard.
A lawyer for three victims of Peter Ball, the disgraced former Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Gloucester, made the claim to Dame Lowell Goddard’s public inquiry into child sex abuse.
Ball, 84, (pictured-right) was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after pleading guilty to a string of historical sex offences.
But 22 years previously, in 1993, he was investigated and let off with a caution for gross indecency by police after abusing a trainee monk.
Richard Scorer, who represents the three victims, made the claim about Mr Carey while an application for the men to be “core participants” in the inquiry at a hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice.
He said that one of the men, known as A13, complained to Mr Carey in 1992, when the latter was the most senior figure in the Anglican Church.
Mr Scorer said: “A13 can tell the inquiry about a very detailed complaint he made to Archbishop George Carey in 1992, reporting Peter Ball’s behaviour … years previously.
“We believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury failed to pass that information on to the police and is one reason, we believe, a proper investigation of Peter Ball’s behaviour and abuse was delayed by over 20 years.”
One strand of Dame Lowell’s wide-ranging inquiry will examine child sex abuse by members of the Anglican Church and ecclesiastical authorities’ reaction and response to it.
It is looking in detail at allegations involving the Diocese of Chichester, in which Ball worked as Bishop of Lewes from 1977 to 1992, when he took the position in Gloucester.
Lord Carey has previously denied he covered up Ball’s crimes.
After the former bishop was jailed at the Old Bailey last year, Lord Carey (pictured-left) said: “I greatly regret the fact that, during my tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, we dealt inadequately with Peter Ball’s victims and gave too much credence to his protestations.
“Allegations by some that my actions amounted to a cover-up or collusion with the abuser are wrong. I have always insisted upon the highest standards of holiness of life from all who are ordained.”
While Bishop of Lewes, Ball hand-picked 18 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, his trial heard.
Despite a number of complaints, Ball, who went on to become Bishop of Gloucester, was never charged and even continued to work as a priest in Truro after he accepted the caution.
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