Peter Ball

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Person.png Peter Ball  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(bishop, UK/VIPaedophile)
Peter Ball.png
Born14 February 1932
Died21 June 2019 (Age 87)
NationalityUK
Alma materLancing College, Queens' College (Cambridge), Wells Theological College
SiblingsMichael Ball
Interests • Charles Windsor
• Lord Carey of Clifton
UK/VIPaedophile bishop and friend of Charles Windsor

Peter Ball was a British bishop in the Church of England and convicted sex offender.

Exposed - The Church's Darkest Secret - part 1

Charges

The first police investigation into Ball was launched in 1992 when a monk training under him in Gloucester accused the cleric of several lewd acts including watching him shower, embracing him naked, and threatening to beat him. He said the indecent behavior started when he was 17. While investigators felt they had enough evidence to bring the case to trial, it was ultimately decided that Ball would get a "police caution" for gross indecency instead.[1]

A second police investigation was launched in 2012, which resulted in Ball pleading guilty three years later to misconduct in public office and indecent assault, admitting to abusing a total of 18 teens and young men over a period of 15 years. He was released from prison in February 2017, after serving half of his 32-month sentence.[1]

Charles Windsor

Prince Charles was among the many influential people in the UK that Ball formed friendships with, including Margaret Thatcher, senior judges, and headmasters at private schools. He also often preached at Sandringham, one of the royal family's private estates.[2][3]

Cliff James, one of Ball's victims, said Ball boasted of his connections. "He kept mentioning his friendship with Prince Charles in a flippant way, [as] anyone would talk about a friend – but he’s talking about Prince Charles..Here he was having a friendship with someone as low down as me...The next minute he’s dropping into the conversation, ‘oh, he’s counsellor to royalty’. It just reinforced his specialness and the idea he was impregnable."[2]

In August 1994, Prince Charles sent his private secretary to Lambeth Palace to inquire about Ball's status to the archbishop's top aide. When he learned that Ball had still not been cleared to return to ministry in February 1995, he wrote to Ball saying "I wish I could do more. I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated."[2]

The family of Neil Todd, who made the first allegation of abuse in 1993 and killed himself in 2012, said he had been portrayed as a liar and a "mischief-maker" by Ball’s friends in high places.[2]

Charles later arranged for the Duchy of Cornwall to buy a house to be rented by Ball and his identical twin, Michael, also a bishop.[2]

At a 2019 hearing, an inquiry heard how members of the establishment, including the heir to the throne, the then archbishop of Canterbury and a senior member of the judiciary, rallied to support Ball.[2]

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References