Bishop Bell not guilty

SIR – There should be no cloud, real or imaginary, over the name of Bishop George Bell (Letters, March 29), who has never been found guilty of anything.

The Diocese of Chichester seems to want to take the stance that he is guilty and must prove his innocence. If this is what it thinks, it should say so.

However, as correspondents have already pointed out, how can George Bell do this when he is dead?

Harpenden, Hertfordshire

SIR – The action of the diocese of Chichester in running a programme based on the assumption of the guilt of the accused is not merely pernicious, as Colin Bullen says (Letters, March 28). It also wastes parishioners’ money.

I cannot think of any allegation of sexual and other abuse or neglect against clergy and other church officers that is not an allegation of current or historic crime. According to the safeguarding training I received last month as a Reader in Coventry diocese, it is the duty of the church authorities to report such allegations to the police. The police are then obliged to investigate the allegations fully, in accordance with the law.

It is therefore not the function of the church authorities to investigate such allegations before referring them to the police, for fear of prejudicing the criminal investigation. If a core group investigating such an allegation obtained an admission of guilt from an accused who had been told he had to prove his innocence, his admission would be inadmissible in a criminal trial. It would almost certainly cause the prosecution to be abandoned.

Accordingly, quite apart from its astonishing disregard for the law of the land, by running the programme, the diocese of Chichester is wasting its parishioners’ money on a pointless exercise.

His Honour Anthony Nicholl Stratford-upon-avon, Warwickshire