New allegations in sex abuse inquiry

Police investigating allegations of sex offences against boys and young men by a retired Church of England bishop said seven more people have come forward claiming they were abused.

The Rt Rev Peter Ball, 80, was arrested at his home near Langport, Somerset, on Tuesday on suspicion of sex offences against eight boys and young men aged from 12 to their early 20s in East Sussex and elsewhere in the late 1970s and 1990s, sources said.

Since his arrest, Sussex Police said a further seven people have come forward making allegations of abuse against them.

A number of people have also stepped forward with potentially useful information, although not alleging that offences had been committed against them.

Mr Ball, a former Bishop of Lewes who resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993, was released at his home on the afternoon of his arrest on medical advice. Police will now question him at a later date.

He was arrested at around the same time as a second clergyman, an unnamed 67-year-old retired priest, who was held at his home near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, on suspicion of separate sex offences against two male teenagers aged 17 and 18 in East Sussex between 1981 and 1983.

Police said three more people have alleged abuse by him since his arrest, mainly in Sussex. He has been freed on police bail until November 29, pending further inquiries.

Detectives said they were interested to hear from anyone else as part of their inquiry, codenamed Operation Dunhill, saying that every report was being followed up.