Carey in probe over sex claim ‘cover-up’

FORMER Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey could be quizzed by police over a paedophile bishop cover-up.

Officers are said to be considering a formal inquiry to determine if the former leader of the Church of England and senior officials should face charges over a failure to pass on sex abuse complaints against former bishop Peter Ball.

Sources say police are collecting evidence and studying a scathing Church of England report commissioned by current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

It concludes that senior church figures ‘colluded’ to protect Ball and says the decision not to pass the complaints to police ‘must give rise to a perception of deliberate concealment’.

Lawyers for the victims of Ball believe the former

‘Perception of concealment’

Archbishop, 82, could face a charge of misconduct in a public office.

Ball, a friend of the Prince of Wales, was jailed for 32 months in 2015 after indecently assaulting 18 boys and young men between 1977 and 1992.

It has been claimed, however, that he might have been convicted more than 20 years earlier had six letters making other claims about his behaviour not been withheld from the police.

The letters were sent by members of the public after allegations against Ball surfaced in the 1990s. Ball was arrested and subsequently resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993.

The police and Lord Carey both declined to comment.