Peter Ball, George Carey and sexual abuse

From the Guardian:

Victims of a former bishop who sexually abused more than 18 young men have accused the Church of England, the police and senior prosecutors of presiding over an establishment cover-up that prevented him from facing justice for decades. 

Details of how Peter Ball, a former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, escaped justice 22 years ago can finally be revealed after he pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of indecent assault and one charge of misconduct in public office, relating to the sexual abuse of 16 young men over a period of 15 years from 1977 to 1992. 

Ball was not charged when the allegations of abuse against him first emerged in 1993. Instead the police and senior figures in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), then led by the late Barbara Mills, agreed to issue Ball with a caution. 

This was done with the knowledge of the then archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey. Ball proceeded to resign as bishop and went to live in a property lent to him by his friend the Prince of Wales.

And later in the same report:

Statements submitted to the court in the pre-trial hearings included one from Carey explaining his intervention in the case. He said in a written statement that he had picked up the telephone to a senior CPS director he knew in relation to the Ball case in 1993. 

He said he was told the caution meant that if other allegations from the past emerged against Ball they would not be pursued in future. “I was worried that if any other allegations were made it would reignite a police investigation,” Carey said in his statement. 

“I was told quite categorically that any past indecency matters would not be taken further.”

I suggest someone interviews George Carey to see if he was party to any more such deals.

In the mean time let us reflect that he called his memoirs Know the Truth.