Prince Charles asked to give witness statement in child sexual abuse involving Anglican Church Bishop
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The Guardian reports that Prince Charles has been asked to give a witness statement to the child sexual abuse inquiry about a paedophile bishop with whom he was in correspondence and who was jailed for grooming young men.
The ex-bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, Peter Ball, 84, was sentenced to 32 months in 2015 for charges relating to 18 teenagers and young men between the 1970s and 1990s. He admitted one count of misconduct in public office and two counts of indecent assault relating to two young men.
The way the allegations against Ball were handled by the Anglican church is being examined by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
The report says that Prince Charles, whose Highgrove estate lies within the church’s Gloucester diocese, has been described by Ball as “a loyal friend”.
It adds that “Richard Scorer, from Slater and Gordon, 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 establishment figures as witnesses then the inquiry should do so without fear or favour”.
