CofE ‘wrongly branded top bishop a paedophile’

THE Church of England sullied the reputation of one of its most distinguished bishops based on inadequate and unconvincing evidence, an independent report is expected to find today.

The findings come two years after former Bishop of Chichester George Bell was condemned as a child abuser by a Church panel on the uncorroborated evidence of one woman.

Bishop Bell, pictured, who died in 1958, was condemned by the CofE two years ago. The Church said he was a criminal abuser and paid £30,000 in compensation to the woman, now in her 70s, who accused him of attacking her.

The condemnation wrecked the reputation of Bishop Bell, who had been an opponent of appeasement of the Nazis and a supporter of refugees from Germany during the 1930s.

He was considered a candidate to become Archbishop of Canterbury, but his career is thought to have suffered because of his criticism of RAF bombing of German cities.

Since Bishop Bell was condemned by his successors in October 2015, his reputation has been trashed and his name has been erased from buildings named after him in Chichester. However supporters questioned the methods the Church used to condemn him at a time when the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and other senior CofE figures were deeply anxious to avoid any suggestion of tolerating child abuse.

Today’s report into the affair by Lord Carlile QC is expected to find that the Church panel which condemned Bishop Bell failed to interview witnesses and accepted evidence from the woman who said she was abused, known only as Carol, without corroboration.

It said the Church should not automatically have believed the word of someone who said she had been abused, and that the process by which it found Bishop Bell guilty was deeply flawed.