Bishop Wallace Parke Benn told the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse the Rev Roy Cotton was restricted from public ministry to avoid contact with children but it was “difficult” to enforce.
Fiona Scolding QC, the lead lawyer for the Anglican strand of the inquiry, is examining how the Church of England handled allegations of sexual misconduct stretching back to the 1950s, first focusing on the Diocese of Chichester.
She questioned the former Bishop of Lewes at the public hearing in London on Monday over paedophile priests Roy Cotton, his friend Colin Pritchard, Gordon Rideout, Jonathan Graves and Robert Coles – who all operated in the Diocese.
Ms Golding described the sanctions imposed on them as a “stern telling off” rather than anything more substantial.
Bishop Benn, who served from 1997 to 2012, said he had “inherited” a paedophile ring when he took his role in East Sussex and that “hindsight was a blessed thing” when questioned before chairman Alexis Jay and her panel.
The inquiry heard Cotton was convicted in 1954 but did not admit this to the Diocese until 2001. He died in 2006 before facing justice for more crimes.
Bishop Benn knew of Cotton’s arrest in November 1997 but not the specifics of the allegations, he said.
He told the inquiry he took steps to restrict Cotton’s contact with children while he was working…
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