Disgraced sex abuse Bishop, who was protected from prosecution for years by Establishment figures,
walks free from jail
Former Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, who was jailed for child sex abuse has been released from prison. CREDIT: PA/PA
Nicola Harley, The Telegraph
A disgraced Bishop who evaded prosecution for decades after intervention by a member of the Royal family, Cabinet Ministers and a Lord Chief Justice has been released from prison.
The former Bishop of Gloucester, now aged 84, groomed and abused 18 aspiring young priests over a period spanning 15 years and was jailed for two years and eight months.
He escaped justice over the same charges years earlier after he was given support by a member of the Royal family and Establishment figures.
Now, after serving 16 months behind bars, Ball was released early on Friday.
Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon, who represent a number of Ball's victims, said: "Ball's early release after serving just half of his sentence is a huge blow to his victims."
Peter Ball, a former Bishop of Lewes, who was jailed for 32 months in October 2015. CREDIT: PA/PA
"This was a man whose appalling crimes represented a gross and systematic abuse of trust spanning decades."
"The fact he has only served 16 months in jail for crimes that scarred his many vulnerable victims is an affront to justice."
Ball was first reported to Gloucester Police by novice monk Neil Todd and others in 1992.
But no charges were brought against him after police received supportive telephone calls from "many dozens of people- including MPs, former public school headmasters, the former Archbishop of Canturbury, Jps and even a Lord Chief Justice", the court previously heard.
Ball made his victims commit acts of "debasement" in the name of religion, such as praying naked at the altar and encouraging them to submit to beatings.
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."
A Church of England spokeswoman said Ball's offences were "a matter of deep shame and regret".
"The Church has apologised unreservedly to the survivors who were brave enough to come forward."
Gloucester Cathedral
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.
Why does he have a right to worship in church? Was there ever any church discipline leveled at Ball? Has he repented? Has he sought forgiveness of the congregations he deceived, of the God he betrayed? He needs to do so publicly before he should ever be considered to rejoin a congregation.
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.
Last year the Telegraph revealed the Church of England was investigating evidence that Ball took services in the place of his identical twin brother in the 1990s, who was then the Bishop of Truro.
It emerged that he may have taken services in Cornwall, where his brother Michael was a former Bishop of Truro.
David White says he was ‘petrified to spill the beans’ over football sexual abuse
David White, pictured here during eight years as a first-team player at Manchester City, is urging other victims to come forward. Photograph: Getty Images
Daniel Taylor, Guardian
David White, the one-time England international, has talked about football operating in a “climate of fear, secrecy and ignorance” during the years when he was sexually abused and confessed that he dreads to think how many other boys suffered alone because of the “culture of shame and silence”.
White, best remembered for his playing days at Manchester City from 1985–93, is urging other victims to come forward after opening up about his own ordeal in a new book, Shades of Blue, where he reveals the harrowing events that left him a “completely different boy, with my confidence shattered, my trust betrayed and my innocence stolen”.
Now 49, White lived with what he calls a “dark secret” until Andy Woodward’s interview to the Guardian in November encouraged him to speak publicly about the events that shaped his life.
He now describes that process of speaking out as a “liberating and enlightening experience” and paints a grim picture about how many other victims there might be who have never felt able to come forward. “I was never aware of any organisations that empowered and encouraged children to blow the whistle,” White says. “I shudder to think how many other kids like me were left alone and afraid, persecuted by their abusers and petrified to spill the beans.”
The last figures released by the police show 526 potential victims have come forward nationwide, with 184 suspects identified, since Woodward, the former Crewe Alexandra, Bury and Sheffield United player, instigated what the Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke, has described as the biggest scandal he can remember in the sport.
“My advice to anyone who has experienced abuse of any kind, in any walk of life, is simple: please talk,” White writes. “I urge you not to suffer alone. Reaching out to someone – especially for the first time – may be upsetting but it will ultimately make things better; that I can almost guarantee. Disclosing my abuse enabled me to unshackle myself from my secrets, the shame and stigma. Having the confidence to lay my feelings bare proved that I still possessed an inner strength and fortitude that I thought I’d lost forever.”
White, whose career also featured spells at Leeds United and Sheffield United, goes on to explain why he found it impossible to come forward during his playing days, saying he had to protect his family from the immeasurable hurt it would have caused, and describing himself as “petrified at the prospect of my dark secret being revealed. I was terrified that if I blew the whistle the tabloids would get hold of the story and splash it across their front pages, perhaps to the detriment of my precious, hard-earned career.
“I was frightened that fans, managers and team-mates might react in a negative way – with disgust, even – because paedophilia still remained hugely taboo, both in football circles and within society in general.”
White became a hugely popular figure at City but his career was blighted by inconsistent form and, almost four decades on, he is convinced that his childhood abuse was one of the driving reasons why he won only one international cap.
“The mental fragility lingered throughout my childhood and adulthood and, on many occasions, was unwittingly transferred on to the football pitch. My game hinged so much upon self-belief and, with hindsight, I’m convinced that much of my notoriously patchy, see-saw form was linked to latent feelings of fear and surrender. Whenever I faced pressure or adversity – the prospect of defeat, perhaps, or some jeering from the crowd – I’d often find myself caving in.
“When I was on peak form – flying down the wing, firing over crosses and scoring at will – I was pretty much unstoppable. Conversely, there would be days when the weight of the world seemed to rest heavy on my shoulders and when that lingering sense of insecurity would rise to the surface.
“What I desperately needed at that time was professional help to address my confidence and inconsistency issues. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, football clubs had neither the staff nor the know-how to identify and support a player suffering with emotional issues.
“In the 1980s and 1990s the football world – and society in general – was not yet sophisticated or mature enough to adequately tackle the issues of child sexual abuse and, as a result, I had to bottle things up and cope alone.”
Ex-Guernsey man pleads guilty to
child sex abuse over 25 year period
Mark Frost
Guernsey Police say they cannot rule out the possibility that local victims exist
A man who lived in Guernsey for a total of nine years has pleaded guilty to 45 counts of child sexual abuse, including rape, committed over a period of at least 25 years.
Mark Frost, 70, formerly known as Andrew Tracey, lived in the island between 1967-1972 and 1998-2002.
He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey in London, but Guernsey Police say they cannot rule out the possibility that local victims exist.
During his first stay in Guernsey he was involved with the local Scout movement.
Although no allegations were made against Frost to Guernsey Police, officers investigated him in 2002 as part of an operation looking into buying indecent images of children.
Before any action was taken against him, Frost fled the island and never returned.
A photo of Mark Frost taken in 1998 when he was in Guernsey for the second time
The counts he has pleaded guilty to in the UK include rape, sexual assault, causing or inciting sexual activity with a child under 13 and making indecent images of children.
His known victims, all boys aged between 10 and 15, were from the UK and Thailand.
Frost, who was a teacher in the UK, had sex with one of the boys in a school store room, at playtime breaks at his home where he lived with his adopted son, and at a car park in Woking, London's Old Bailey heard.
He was arrested in Spain last year and officers from Guernsey Police have been working with National Crime Agency since.
Any victims are being encouraged to contact either Guernsey Police directly or use a dedicated NSPCC helpline on 0800 328 0904.
The helpline is managed by trained NSPCC staff who are skilled in talking to and responding to victims of non-recent sexual abuse and is a pathway for victims to access support and safeguarding services.
Vicar charged with downloading child sex abuse images
Georgia Diebelius for Metro.co.uk
Peter Low, 64, from Heybridge in Essex, was arrested and charged with three counts of possession of indecent images of children.
He was also charged with one count of possession of a prohibited image of a child.
All of the images were downloaded from the internet.
The vicar of of Heybridge and Langford Parishes has been given conditional bail to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on March 1.
The vicar of the church has been charged (Picture: Google)
A spokesman for the Diocese of Chelmsford said: ‘The Diocese of Chelmsford, where he had been working, has been taking the police investigation extremely seriously, and has been working closely with the police.
‘Mr Low was suspended from all his duties as a vicar by the Bishop of Chelmsford immediately the Bishop was informed of the investigation, and he remains suspended.
‘The diocese strives to uphold the highest standards in safeguarding policy, training, practice and disciplinary action.
‘The online abuse of children destroys childhoods and devastates society.
‘It is not tolerated by the Church.
‘Mr Low will face a Church investigation under the Clergy Discipline Measure once the criminal case has been concluded.’
Essex Police ask any members of the public with information relating to the case, to contact Detective Sergeant Trudi Arnold at Chelmsford CID on 101.
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