‘An independent review into how the Church of England handled the case of a bishop accused of being a child abuser is to be led by Lord Carlile.’
BBC News, 23rd November 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Catholic church is taking the government’s schools admissions watchdog to the high court to protect the rights of priests to determine whether pupils are eligible for a place on the basis of their faith.’
The Guardian, 20th November 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Catholic church could face a compensation bill of millions of pounds following a test case on sexual abuse at a former children’s home which opens on Monday.’
The Guardian, 31st October 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
McPhee v The Queen [2016] UKPC 29
‘The defendant, a 17-year-old from Nassau, was arrested on a neighbouring island of The Bahamas on suspicion of murder following an armed robbery. He gave his mother’s phone number in Nassau to the police but no contact with her was established and no lawyer was called. After more than 31 hours in custody, during which time the custody log showed he had been taken from his cell several times but without any record made of his being questioned, a church minister in his mid-seventies was asked to come to the police station to witness the defendant make a statement. The minister did not speak to the defendant alone nor offer him any advice, but observed that the defendant was hungry and gave the police money to buy him a meal, after which the defendant made a written statement under caution confessing to the murder. Apart from the confession the only evidence against the defendant was that of another defendant who became a prosecution witness during the trial. At trial, the defendant claimed that his statement had been made following torture and so was not admissible. The judge rejected the claim of torture but did not consider whether the taking of the defendant from his cells had been for the purpose of informal interrogation, or whether the minister could properly be said to have been acting as an “appropriate adult” for the witnessing of a juvenile’s confession, and allowed the confession to go before the jury. The defendant was convicted of murder. The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The defendant appealed to the Privy Council on the grounds, inter alia, that the confession should have been excluded under section 20 of the Bahamas Evidence Act as being unreliable, by reason of the defendant having been subjected to unrecorded questioning in the absence of a lawyer or appropriate adult and in any event should have been excluded as unfair under section 178 of the Bahamas Evidence Act.’
WLR Daily, 24th October 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘A former social worker and Catholic priest has been jailed for 12 years after admitting historical child sex abuse charges dating back to the 1970s.’
BBC News, 10th August 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A senior Church of England clergyman has been found guilty of sex offences committed against two young men in the 1970s and 80s amid claims of a church cover-up.’
The Guardian, 4th August 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The first of hundreds of people are to begin giving testimony to a public inquiry into child sexual abuse, in an unprecedented national “truth-telling” project designed to catalogue decades of suffering.’
The Guardian, 25th July 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Retired clergyman Paul Nicolson, who is refusing to pay council tax in solidarity with those hit by benefit cuts, explains why he’s happy to take the consequences.’
The Guardian, 8th June 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘George Bell was one of the most influential Anglican bishops of the last century. But, almost 60 years after his death, he was accused of having been a child abuser. Now campaigners are battling to defend his reputation.’
BBC News, 5th May 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A disgraced clergyman who repeatedly sexually abused a 15-year-old girl has been given a three-year jail sentence.’
BBC News, 31st March 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A gay clergyman who lost an employment tribunal against the Church of England has been given the right to appeal.’
The Guardian, 15th March 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Church of England has paid £35,000 in compensation and apologised to a survivor of clerical sexual abuse in the latest in a string of cases involving senior church figures. The diocese of London has also agreed to an independent review of how the church handled the allegations of abuse, which date back to the 1980s.’
The Guardian, 4th December 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘A gay clergyman prevented from taking up a post as a hospital chaplain was not discriminated against, an employment tribunal panel has ruled.’
BBC News, 4th November 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A retired Church of England bishop has been jailed for a string of offences against teenagers and young men.’
BBC News, 7th October 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A retired bishop who has admitted sex offences against young men, should have faced charges 22 years ago, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has admitted. The CPS said a caution given to Peter Ball in 1993 was wrong as there was sufficient evidence to prosecute.’
BBC News, 13th September 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A clergyman who wed his partner in a same-sex marriage may have to wait until next year to find out whether a decision by the church to remove his right to officiate was discriminatory.’
The Guardian, 1st September 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The first priest to marry his same-sex partner has begun a discrimination case against the Church of England over its withdrawal of his right to officiate as a priest following the union.’
The Guardian, 16th June 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Sharpe v Bishop of Worcester (in his corporate capacity) [2015] EWCA Civ 399; [2015] WLR (D) 196
‘In determining the question of whether a person was a “worker” within the meaning of section 43K(1)(a) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the words “terms on which he is or was engaged to do the work” required the person to have a contract with the person of whom he was said to be a “worker”.’
WLR Daily, 30th April 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘A retired vicar who refused to pay council tax on a matter of principle has won a High Court victory over excessive costs.’
The Independent, 7th May 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
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