Senior Church of England leaders covered up damning evidence that a bishop was a predatory sex offender 22 years before he was brought to justice, according to secret documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday.

Lambeth Palace was warned that Peter Ball, a close friend of Prince Charles and who attended his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005, was a serial abuser of boys and young men shortly before he resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993.

At the time he accepted a caution for gross indecency against a man aged 19, but was allowed to continue working as a cleric until he was eventually jailed last year.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's headquarters received letters from alleged victims of Peter Ball (pictured with close friend Prince Charles)

Now it has emerged the Archbishop of Canterbury’s headquarters received at least six letters from other alleged victims detailing ‘potentially criminal’ and ‘totally inappropriate behaviour’ by the former bishop in the early 1990s, but did not pass them on to police until years later.

‘The Church appears to have resorted to staggering levels of deceit in order to prevent the true extent of Ball’s offending coming to light. Richard Scorer, a solicitor who is representing victims of Ball

Details of the letters, all sent to the Church between December 1992 and February 1993, reveal Ball encouraged victims to pray naked, perform sex acts in front of him, and share his bed.

Anglican officials who reviewed the letters in 2009 suggested that had such evidence been given to detectives in 1993, Ball may have been convicted of serious sexual offences rather than merely cautioned. But instead of being made public, the letters were kept in confidential files at Lambeth Palace. It was not until 2012, after several internal inquiries, that the Church finally released documents to police.

In October last year, Ball, now 84, was sentenced to 32 months in jail after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office and indecent assaults on a total of 18 boys and young men between 1977 and 1992.

Last night, a lawyer representing Ball’s victims accused Church leaders of ‘staggering levels of deceit’ in failing to pass on the original letters and to demand a police investigation – including into the role of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey.

Lord Carey, who was Archbishop between 1992 and 2002, has previously denied any cover-up. Last night he said he could not comment further as the current Archbishop, Justin Welby, had ordered another investigation by the Church, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, led by Judge Lowell Goddard, was also examining the case.

ord Carey, who was Archbishop between 1992 and 2002, has previously denied any cover-up

But Richard Scorer, a solicitor who is representing victims of Ball at the Goddard Inquiry, said: ‘George Carey now needs to answer if he personally knew about these other complaints and why these complaints were not shared with police.’

He added: ‘The Church appears to have resorted to staggering levels of deceit in order to prevent the true extent of Ball’s offending coming to light.

‘These documents clearly prove there was a cover-up. The Church knew Ball was a prolific abuser – they deliberately withheld that information.’

The documents, obtained by The Mail on Sunday under Freedom of Information laws, reveal the results of those letters in various Church reviews into the bishop’s conduct. One review said if the letters had been passed on to the authorities in 1993, Ball may have been convicted of sex crimes rather than cautioned because they showed he was a serial abuser.

In the view of one unnamed Church official who later reviewed the case: ‘Ball’s behaviour was possibly criminal and in all cases was quite clearly a significant breach of trust.’

Ball, who was Bishop of Lewes before he was promoted to Bishop of Gloucester in 1992, was originally arrested for allegedly molesting novice monk Neil Todd, who committed suicide in 2012.