Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester who boasted of links to royalty, has asked to join the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton, in Bristol, a spokesman for the Church confirmed.

His identical twin brother, the former bishop of Truro Michael Ball, also sent an email – seen by Press Association – to friends telling them of the idea.

Peter Ball, now 85, was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 for offences dating back to the 1970s against 18 young men at his home in East Sussex.

The email sent on Wednesday morning said the pair would not be sending Christmas cards after recent events had “totally wearied and reduced” them.

In it, Michael Ball said: “Peter and Michael will not be sending Christmas Cards this year.

“The events of the last years and rightly or wrongly the battering by the Church have totally wearied and reduced us.

“We will proabably [sic] be joining the Roman Catholic Church soon.

“We love The Church of England but would like to end our days in a church where we can live and worship in anonymity and without constant fear.

“We send our love and are enormously grateful fo [sic] the kindness and continued support of so many.

“We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a joyful New Year.”

The message was mistakenly sent to a BBC journalist and subsequently shown to Peter Saunders, the child abuse campaigner who founded support charity NAPAC.

Speaking to Press Association on Wednesday…

Middletown Borough Council in the US state of Pennsylvania approved Mark Hovan’s penalty, following a recommendation by local police chief George Mouchette.

Mr Hovan told the local Press & Journal news website: “I never lied about it”.

The patrol officer was summoned to a meeting with Mr Mouchette on 7th November in a letter which made four accusations of ‘neglect of duty’ and ‘inefficiency’ against him.

Mr Hovan told the Press & Journal said he had been going to church during shifts throughout his 19-year service at Middletown Police Department in order to mark six Catholic holy days.

A devout Catholic, Mr Hovan previously received a warning after he attended Mass on 8th January 2017.

It is unclear whether the patrol officer will be paid during his suspension period, a punishment which was borough councillors passed by four votes to one – plus one abstention.

In an earlier interview with the Press & Journal, Mr Movan claimed his constitutional right to practise freedom of religion had been “infringed upon” and that the police department had made “no accommodation” for his religious beliefs.

Andrew Soper, 74, fled to Kosovo with £182,000 from the Vatican bank in a bid to avoid prosecution for molesting boys at fee-paying St Benedict’s School in Ealing, west London.

The former Ealing Abbot, known as Father Laurence, was extradited to face 19 charges of indecent assault and buggery against 10 former pupils in the 1970s and 80s.

A jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for 14 hours to find him guilty of all charges by a majority of 10 to two.

There were gasps in the public gallery as the verdicts were delivered while Soper stood in the dock impassively.

Judge Anthony Bate remanded Soper in custody to be sentenced on Tuesday December 19.

The scandal-hit school counts former Conservative chairman Lord Patten and entertainer Julian Clary among its old boys and currently charges fees of around £5,000 a term.

It had come under scrutiny in the past, with both violence and sexual abuse by the adults in charge said to be “prevalent”.

Prosecutor Gillian Etherton QC told how the victims were subjected to sadistic beatings by Soper for “fake reasons”.

They included kicking a football “in the wrong direction”, “failing to use double margins”, and “using the (wrong) staircase”, leading to a caning and a sexual assault, she said.

She added: “It is the prosecution case that ‘punishments’ as described by the complainants in this case were carried out by Soper in entirely inappropriate ways and circumstances and on many occasions with what can only have been sexual…