Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey resigns from Church of England role after ‘damning inquiry’ found he helped protect a paedophile bishop

  • Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey quits Church of England role
  • Inquiry found he colluded with senior clergy to protect paedophile Peter Ball
  • Lord Carey was accused of 'deliberately concealing' evidence to help ex-bishop
  • Ball was jailed for 32 months in 2015 after admitting historic sex offences  

By Tom Kelly for the Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Lord Carey quit his Church of England role yesterday after a damning inquiry found he colluded with senior clergy to protect a paedophile bishop.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury resigned as honorary Assistant Bishop of Oxford after he was accused of helping to ‘deliberately conceal’ evidence which helped Peter Ball escape prosecution for 22 years.

Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester and a friend of Prince Charles, was finally jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after admitting sex offences against 18 teenagers and young men between the 1970s and 1990s.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, pictured, has quit the Church of England after an inquiry found he colluded with senior clergy to protect paedophile ex-bishop Peter Ball
Ball, pictured, was jailed for 32 months in 2015 for historic sex offences against teenagers and young men between the 1970s and 1990s

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, left, has quit the Church of England after an inquiry found he colluded with senior clergy to protect paedophile ex-bishop Peter Ball, right

Justin Welby, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, had asked Lord Carey to ‘carefully consider his position’ after the independent review by Dame Moira Gibb branded the Church’s response to the scandal ‘lamentable’.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend Dr Steven Croft, said: ‘I have met with Lord Carey following the Archbishop’s letter to him. 

'Lord Carey has resigned from his role as honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Oxford.

'Lord Carey has accepted the criticisms made of him in the Gibb review and has apologised to the victims of Peter Ball.’

Ball was let off with a caution for molesting a teenage novice monk in 1993.

At the time, Lambeth Palace failed to pass on to police six letters with other allegations about sex abuse ‘or worse’ by Ball, the review found.

Lord Carey also lobbied prosecutors on Ball’s behalf during the 1993 police investigation and later declared him ‘basically innocent’. 

Lord Carey, pictured, stepped down as honorary Assistant Bishop of Oxford after he was accused of helping to ‘deliberately conceal’ evidence which helped Ball escape prosecution for 22 years

Lord Carey, pictured, stepped down as honorary Assistant Bishop of Oxford after he was accused of helping to ‘deliberately conceal’ evidence which helped Ball escape prosecution for 22 years

He also gave Ball £12,500 of Church cash, and only three years after his caution allowed him to preach in public schools.

The inquiry found Ball boasted of being a confidant to Prince Charles which he attempted to use to ‘bolster his position’.

It also said the 'greatest failure' in the case was the failure to pass on six letters alleging sexual misconduct against Ball to the police, with Lord Carey said to have been aware of them and even responded to two of them personally. 

Lord Carey has spent 60 years in the ministry, becoming a vicar in Durham in 1975 and then Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1987, before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in 1991. 

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