Charles is asked to give statement on bishop in abuse case

THE child abuse public inquiry has asked Prince Charles to give a witness statement about a paedophile bishop.

It is likely he will be asked to address questions over letters he exchanged with Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, who was given a 32-month jail sentence in 2015 for sex offences against 18 teenagers and young men dating back to the 1970s.

The prince’s correspondence has already been handed to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), which is looking at the Church of England’s handling of several cases where clergymen were found to have abused boys.

A previous inquiry into the Ball case found that the letters did not suggest that ‘the Prince

of Wales or any other member of the Royal Family sought to intervene at any point in order to protect or promote Ball’.

But at an IICSA hearing yesterday, counsel to the inquiry Fiona Scolding QC said witness statements had been requested from Charles and his principal private secretary over the issue.

Solicitor Richard Scorer, who is representing complainants at the inquiry, went further, suggesting that the heir to the throne should even be called in person to give evidence.

Charles’s country home, Highgrove, sits in Ball’s former diocese. Clarence House said: ‘Whilst the prince has made it clear that he was unaware of the extent of Mr Ball’s behaviour, he has indicated that he is more than willing to provide context on his contact with Mr Ball, as his former local bishop, if that would help the inquiry.’

‘He is willing to provide context’