Ministers and royal family member 'supported sex abuse bishop'

The Prince of Wales made no intervention in the case against former bishop Peter Ball, Clarence House said after comments made in court today that "ministers and a royal family member" had "supported" Ball.

Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, was jailed for 32 months today after being found guilty of a string of historic sexual offences against young aspiring priests.

The crimes were committed over the space of 15 years and date back to the time period covering 1977 to 1992.

Prince Charles' Highgrove home is located in Ball's former Gloucester diocese.

Former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball has been jailed for 32 months for a string of sex crimes against young aspiring priests.

The 83-year-old was jailed at the Old Bailey for abusing his power to exploit his victims over 15 years for his own "selfish sexual motive", it was ruled.

At a previous hearing, he admitted misusing his position in authority to "manipulate" 16 men for his own sexual gratification and indecently assaulting two men in their late teens.

Prosecutors told the Old Bailey that Peter Ball was allowed to continue officiating as a priest after a caution for indecent assault in 1993.

Police received calls of support for the former Bishop of Lewes from "MPs, former public school headmasters and even a Lord Chief Justice", the court heard.

Peter Ball's defence claimed to have 2,000 letters of support for the cleric including those from cabinet ministers and a member of the royal family.

In 1993, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was "sufficient admissible, substantial and reliable evidence" of indecent assault and gross indecency.

The former Bishop of Lewes used his position to "identify, groom and exploit sensitive young men", the Old Bailey heard.

Peter Ball, 83, looked frail as he appeared in the dock for sentencing for a string of sex offences against young men, many aspiring priests, between 1977 and 1992.

The prosecution said that for Ball, religion "was a cloak behind which he hid in order to satisfy his sexual interest in those who trusted him".

ITV News correspondent Rebecca Barry is at the Old Bailey:

Last month, he admitted misusing his position in authority to "manipulate" 16 men for his own sexual gratification and indecently assaulting two men in their late teens between 1980 and 1983 and between 1990 and 1991.

A former bishop said he was "very, very sorry" as he walked into the Old Bailey to be sentenced for historic sex offences against young men.

Peter Ball, 83, is to be sentenced after admitting a string of offences against young men between the 1970s and the 1990s.

When asked about the victims outside court, he replied that he was "very, very sorry".

The Church of England has announced it will investigate claims that senior clerics helped cover-up the sex crimes after victims claimed that it prevented him from facing justice for decades.