Church in Wales promoted child abuser bishop despite known sexual assault claims

A former bishop was elevated to senior positions within the Church in Wales despite known allegations of sexual abuse against him, an independent review has concluded. Anthony Pierce, 85, who served as Bishop of Swansea and Brecon from 1999 to 2008, was imprisoned last year for sexually abusing a boy. He admitted five counts of indecent assault against a male under 16, offences committed while he was a parish priest in Swansea during the 1980s.

The Church in Wales commissioned a review into Pierce and the handling of concerns about him. It found senior clergy were aware of sexual abuse allegations when he was appointed Archdeacon of Gower in 1995 and later Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in 1999. The claims, said to relate to an incident around 1990 involving a teenage boy, were not reported to police until 2010. By then, the victim had died, and officers took no further action.

Report author Gabrielle Higgins said: “Various individuals within the Church in Wales knew of safeguarding concerns about Pierce on four occasions between 1993 and 2016.”

Gabrielle Higgins wrote: “At no point did anyone know what it was alleged Pierce had done, merely that it was sexual and involved a boy variously described as 15 or 16 years old.”

Four Archbishops of Wales, including Dr Rowan Williams, later Archbishop of Canterbury, were referenced. The report said that, when he became Archbishop of Wales in 1999, Dr Williams was handed a 30-page handwritten document prepared by a friend of Pierce and containing an “apparent admission of a criminal offence,” but he did not read it.

Ms Higgins said: “Although he had previously been told some kind of allegation existed, he did not understand it to be a legal or criminal matter and there was no indication he was informed it involved a child.”

“I do not consider it unreasonable that he failed to read the lengthy handwritten document, given the lack of briefing and the limited information that would have stood out at a glance.”

Responding to the findings, the current Archbishop of Wales, the Rt Revd Cherry Vann, apologised to those “failed by the Church in the past”.

The Rt Revd Cherry Vann said: “The review laid bare missed opportunities, flawed assumptions and inadequate processes that shaped the Church’s response to abuse allegations for too long. This catalogue of failures can only be a source of shame for the Church and will have caused further trauma to abuse victims and their families.”

While safeguarding procedures had improved significantly since the period examined, she said there was no room for complacency and pledged to fully implement the report’s recommendations.

The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, the Rt Revd John Lomas, said: “The trauma suffered by victims was compounded by institutional failings and breaches of trust. While past wrongs could not be undone, the Church hoped publication of the review and commitment to reform would help restore confidence.”

Since his imprisonment, Pierce has been removed from holy orders and is no longer permitted to serve as a priest.