Two private equity firms are believed to be looking to dispose of controversial investments in children’s care homes.

The family of an 89-year-old woman who died in a care home fire is considering legal action following their disappointment at a coroner’s decision at her inquest.

Child abuse has gone unchecked in the Church of England for decades amid a cover up by bishops, secret papers have revealed.

{mosimage}Information that could have prevented abuse has been “lost or damaged”, concerns about individuals have been ignored and allegations have not been recorded. It means that the Church has no idea how many paedophiles are in its midst. Lawyers warned last night that the Church faces a crisis as catastrophic as the one that engulfed the Roman Catholic Church and cost it millions of pounds in damages.

Richard Scorer, a solicitor who has specialised in child abuse cases, said that the Church of England’s mistakes amounted to “an appalling, shocking level of negligence” that is likely to leave it open to claims from victims who have been too afraid to speak out in the past. The Church is to launch an urgent investigation on an unprecedented scale.

It will look at the records of thousands of clergy – including those who have retired – church employees, lay workers and volunteers dating back decades in an attempt to expose those who have previously escaped prosecution and identify those who pose “current risks”.

Dioceses will appoint independent reviewers with access to all of their personnel files. These are due to be examined over an 18-month period.

However, the internal Church documents – leaked to The Sunday Telegraph – show that even if churchwardens, who are lay officials, are found to have previous allegations against them, the Church has no power to suspend them.

A care home’s assistant manager stole £106,000 from a frail 93-year-old resident and also forged her will.

Hull: Residents from a closure-threatened care home are set to protest against the plans outside the Guildhall.

A charity worker who was part of a fraud ring swindling £800,000 from a disabled children’s charity has won the first stage of an appeal battle to cut her sentence.

An eminent professor has been sued by his care home in a row over his treatment. The owners of Silverwood Nursing Home in Beeston took Professor Paul Newbold to court for not paying thousands of pounds of fees.

A male nurse accused of murdering four elderly women and the attempted murder of a fifth has denied doing anything that would harm or put his patients’ lives in danger.

Sir Cliff Richard’s mother has died at the age of 87 after suffering Alzheimer’s disease. Dorothy Webb developed dementia in her early seventies.

A Somerset Care service is disappointed and angry after plans to extend a care home in Castle Cary were rejected for the second time.