Bishop faces police interview over claim he ignored abuse
THE Bishop of Oxford will be summoned for questioning by police over claims he failed to pass on allegations of rape against a vicar.
The Rt Rev Steven Croft will be interviewed under caution by South Yorkshire Police as part of an inquiry into alleged failures to report abuse, sources have told The Daily Telegraph.
No arrest is expected and the Diocese of Oxford stressed there was no suggestion of guilt. However, a lawyer involved in the case said Bishop Croft would be questioned over possible offences of misconduct in a public office.
Matt Ineson, who waived his right to anonymity, claims to have been raped by the Rev Trevor Devamanikkam, a former vicar, in Bradford in the Eighties. Devamanikkam was charged with child sex offences but committed suicide last year the day before he was due to appear in court.
Mr Ineson said he told Bishop Croft, then the Bishop of Sheffield, of the alleged abuse in 2012 and later copied in the Archbishop of York, the Rt Rev John Sentamu, in a 2013 letter.
Neither Bishop Croft nor Archbishop Sentamu reported the matter to police, nor the three other bishops Mr Ineson says he approached with his allegations, it is claimed. Officers have taken a statement from Mr Ineson and are expected to question Bishop Croft. It is also possible that Archbishop Sentamu could be questioned.
Bishop Croft is separately facing criticism for reinstating Lord Carey’s permission to preach amid allegations the former archbishop “colluded” with disgraced paedophile bishop Peter Ball.
Mr Ineson told The Telegraph: “The failures to deal properly with my disclosures has caused me great pain and anguish. I want to avoid this happening to others in future. Internal church procedures are utterly inadequate.”
David Greenwood, Mr Ineson’s lawyer and the head of the child abuse department at Switalskis Solicitors, said: “I understand Steven Croft is to be investigated for offences of misconduct in a public office. Those in public office are expected to abide by high standards and when their behaviour falls well below a standard to be expected the CPS can prosecute.”
A spokesman for the Diocese of Oxford said: “Written records and notes taken at the time give a different picture to the one Mr Ineson is presenting ... An independent review, commissioned by the National Safeguarding Team, will investigate the response of the Church of England to matters relating to the late Trevor Devamanikkam.”