IICSA has published this timetable for next week’s public hearings, 23 to 27 July (from 10 am daily).
Former archbishop, Lord Carey, is due to appear on Tuesday.
As during the previous hearings, TA will try to provide daily links to the transcripts and to some of the key documents.
The Guardian has this news story: Prince Charles to give evidence on bishop to child abuse inquiry.
The BBC has this: Prince Charles to give evidence at Peter Ball abuse inquiry.
The Times today claims to have seen Prince Charles’s statement:
‘The prince said Ball told him that he had been involved in an “indiscretion” and that an individual with a grudge had been “persecuting” him. The prince added: “I was certainly not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution… Whilst I note that Peter Ball mentioned the word in a letter to me in October 2009, I was not aware until recently that a caution in fact carries an acceptance of guilt.’
I’m pretty sure it was reported at the time that a caution meant Ball had accepted guilt. And Prince Charles has access to expert advice, I’d be surprised if he wasn’t advised of the significance. All the same, I knew Ball when he was Bishop of Lewes, and he did have the most extraordinary charisma. He seemed to exert a spell over people and held the whole district in the palm of his hand. He was an expert groomer, not only of young men but of entire communities. He would have done his damnedest to cultivate someone as powerful and… Read more »
The caution was issued in March 1993.
Ball was arrested in November 2012 and his prosecution announced in March 2014. He pleaded guilty in September 2015, the trial and sentencing took place in October 2015.
According to The Times, the Prince did not sever contact with Ball until 2015.
The Prince’s Principal Private Secretary from September 2011 to November 2015 was William Nye.
William Nye is now Secretary-General of the Archbishops’ Council and Secretary General of the General Synod of the Church of England, and involved in current discussions of safeguarding issues. I note that he was educated at an independent boarding school within Peter Ball’s patch when he was Bishop of Lewes – though Nye may have left school by the time Ball took up the post.
Apologies: Nye was at school in Horsham, which is in West Sussex. Ball was Bishop of Lewes, in East Sussex.
Let me guess – Christ’s Hospital?
And this is the same William Nye who in an email to me, only very recently, wrote that he DISAGREED with me when I stated that no member of the clergy, including bishops and archbishops, can ignore a disclosure of abuse and when I stated that safeguarding was everyone’s concern AND that the most basic of CofE safeguarding training teaches as standard that if any member of the clergy receives a disclosure of abuse they MUST report it to the safeguarding officer without delay. And this is the Secretary-General of the Archbishops’ Council and Secretary General of the General Synod… Read more »
The statement from Clarence House seems to imply that the Prince of Wales thought Peter Ball was innocent even after he had been cautioned. As Janet said, surely some one should have explained the significance of a caution to him.
It is ludicrous for Prince Charles not to understand the significance of the caution as he has every access to advice
Will the IICSA be asking William Nye to attend its hearing next week?
There is much about this case which is deeply concerning, not least the fact common to many of these cases that because those who knew did nothing, further abuse was not prevented. However, there are other issues. It is not entirely clear from the Gibb report who knew what and when in the early years when concerns were first expressed. The Norwich Crown Appointments Commission were clearly not going to be hoodwinked some years earlier. However, the Gloucester Crown Appointments Commission almost certainly was. Why was this person translated to Gloucester? What did the references say? Of course we will… Read more »
Peter Hitchens on Peter Ball…and Sir Cliff Richard and Lord Bishop Bell:
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2018/07/i-hate-his-cheesy-hits-but-ive-just-joined-the-cliff-richard-fan-club-after-his-court-victory.html