Letters written by a former archbishop of Canterbury and a coterie of establishment figures – including a former government minister and a high court judge – in support of a bishop accused of sexual abuse more than 20 years ago have been disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act.

The confidential letters to police and prosecutors springing to the defence of Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, are likely to fuel accusations by survivors of sexual abuse of a cover-up at the heart of the Church of England and wider establishment.

Ball escaped prosecution at the time, resigned his post as bishop and retired to a rented cottage on the Prince of Wales’s Duchy of Cornwall estate. After a fresh investigation was opened in 2012, Ball, now 83, was sentenced to 32 months in prison in October 2015 after pleading guilty to abusing 18 vulnerable young men between 1977 and 1992.



George Carey, who was archbishop of Canterbury at the time when police were investigating claims of sexual abuse by Ball, wrote to the director of public prosecutions and the chief constable of Gloucester police in February 1993. While repeatedly stressing he was not trying to influence the outcome of the investigation, Carey wrote of Ball’s “excruciating pain and spiritual torment” and the implications for the state of his mental health.

A separate letter from Tim Renton, then the Conservative MP for Mid Sussex and a former government minister, spoke of Ball “suffer[ing] terribly” during the investigation while implicitly acknowledging that the bishop may have broken his vows of chastity.



At Ball’s trial, the Old Bailey heard that a string of senior establishment figures, including a member of the royal family, had written letters and made telephone calls supporting Ball at the time of the original investigation. No details were given.



On Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service published a series of letters, written by “‘significant’ figures of society at the time”, in response to an FOI request. It declined to publish further letters in support of Ball by “non-senior individuals”.

The CPS said that “whilst we appreciate some embarrassment may be caused by the release of these letters, we believe this is outweighed by the public interest in accountability under their respective titles”.



The published letters were sent by two archbishops of Canterbury and a bishop, a former high court judge, two Conservative MPs, three former heads and two chaplains of leading public schools. No correspondence from a member of the royal family was disclosed.



In his letter to the chief constable of Gloucester, dated 5 February 1993, Carey wrote: “I have been keeping an anxious eye on developments concerning my colleague Peter Ball, whilst being keenly conscious of the need to avoid any suggestion that I might be attempting to influence the police enquiries.”



Saying that he wished to offer a “few personal reflections”, the then archbishop of Canterbury wrote of Ball’s “wholehearted commitment to his Lord and the Christian Church”. The sexual abuse investigation came as “a terrible shock to me” and “seemed to me at first most improbable”. He added: “If he is guilty of unprofessional behaviour it is quite unrepresentative of his style.”



He acknowledged that “‘special pleading’ would be entirely inappropriate; at the same time ... I believe I am justified in drawing to your attention the excruciating pain and spiritual torment which these allegations have inevitably brought upon a man in his exposed position and with his sensibilities”.



Carey’s letter to the DPP, written almost a month later, referred to “disturbing impressions of the bishop’s state of health” and enclosed a psychiatrist’s report on Ball. The letter urged the DPP to come to a speedy decision about prosecution, saying a delay “may endanger further his already fragile health”.



A handwritten letter from Donald Coggan, the archbishop of Canterbury who consecrated Ball as a bishop in 1977, referred to his regard and respect for a “godly man, totally devoted to his church and to the people whom he has loved and served since his ordination”.



Renton, who was arts minister in John Major’s government until 10 months before writing to the DPP in support of Ball, said the bishop had “suffered terribly over the past six weeks” of police investigation.



Renton said he had never heard a “breath of any suggestion of impropriety” regarding Ball’s behaviour while bishop of Lewes in the MP’s constituency. He continued: “However, I know him well enough to be certain that no punishment will be greater for him than any knowledge that he has broken his own vows of chastity. This alone will make him suffer for the rest of his life. To add the further shame of criminal action seems far too great a punishment.”



Former high court judge Anthony Lloyd wrote that the bishop was “the most saintly man I have ever met” and that “if there is a latter day St Francis, then Peter Ball is him”.



He added: “And now he finds himself in this appalling situation ... He has obviously suffered far more already than any of us can imagine, and far more than a more ordinary human being would have suffered.”



None of the correspondents made any reference to the suffering of those who had made allegations against Ball.



The other correspondents were Tim Rathbone, then Conservative MP for Lewes; Peter Nott, then bishop of Norwich; James Woodhouse, headteacher of Lancing college and former headteacher of Rugby school; Ian Beer, former headteacher of Harrow school; Richard Morgan, former head of Cheltenham college; and the Reverends A J Keep and N A T Menon, both chaplains at Cranleigh school.



After Ball retired as a bishop, he was permitted to continue officiating in the C of E by Carey.



At his trial, Bobbie Cheema QC, prosecuting, said that the police had received letters and phone calls of support from many dozens of people, including a member of the royal family.



Clarence House issued a statement at the end of the trial, saying that the Prince of Wales had “made no intervention in the judicial process on behalf of Peter Ball”.



Responding to the FOI request, the CPS said it had “not received any correspondence nor seen any correspondence to others from any members of the royal family”.

Neil Todd, one of those who accused Ball of abuse in 1993, killed himself three years ago after three earlier attempts to take his life. His sister, Mary Mills Knowles, said in a victim impact statement: “The church wanted to sweep this under the carpet. They had no concern for Neil’s wellbeing. He was very distressed, vulnerable and distraught. He felt nobody believed him.”



Responding to the publication of the letters, a C of E spokesperson said: “It is a matter of deep shame and regret that a bishop in the Church of England was sentenced earlier this year for a series of offences over 15 years against 18 young men known to him. There are no excuses whatsoever for what took place, nor for the systematic abuse of trust perpetrated by Peter Ball.”



The church apologised unreservedly to the survivors of Ball’s abuse, the statement said. Justin Welby, the present archbishop of Canterbury, commissioned an independent review in the way the church handled the Ball case and was co-operating fully with Justice Goddard’s sexual abuse inquiry.



The church took allegations of sexual abuse very seriously, it said, while being “painfully conscious of our past failings”.

