Lord Carlile\u2019s report was eventually handed to the Church authorities and they kicked it into the long grass.<\/p>\n
So much for Bishop Martin Warner\u2019s vaunted \u201c\u2026safeguards of truth and justice for all, victim and accused alike.\u201d All along, the only interests being safeguarded here were those of the Bishop of Chichester and the Archbishop of Canterbury. We know very well why these authorities leapt so precipitately to condemn Bishop Bell out of hand: it was because they had previously had to admit to the existence of so many perpetrators of sexual abuse among the senior clergy \u2013 especially in the Diocese of Chichester.<\/p>\n
Warner and Welby, to salvage what remained of their reputations, wanted desperately to appear to be doing something.<\/p>\n
Thus the name of the safely-dead Bishop George Bell was tarnished because the Church\u2019s highest authorities sought to cover their own backs.<\/p>\n
Let us be in no doubt as to the seriousness of the Church\u2019s misconduct so eloquently criticised in Lord Carlile\u2019s report. He said that Bell had been \u201chung out to dry,\u201d he added that the Church\u2019s procedures were \u201cdeficient, inappropriate and impermissible\u201d; \u201cobvious lines of enquiry were not followed\u201d and there was \u201ca rush to judgement.\u201d<\/p>\n