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Rex
UK News

Bishop of Durham names Enoch Powell in child abuse claims to police

According to the Mail on Sunday Rt Revd Paul Butler contacted Scotland Yard over claims relating to the former Minister of Health to "ritual satanic abuse".

It's claimed Powell's name was passed to Bishop Paul, the lead Bishop for Children and Young in the Church of England and Chair of its Safeguarding Board by a former Bishop of Monmouth, Dominic Walker, who the paper claims first heard the allegation when he was a vicar counselling young adults in the 1980s.

Reports suggest Bishop Dominic was told of unsubstantiated allegations of "satanic rituals", often involving the abuse of children.

A Church of England statement said: "The extent of the Church of England's actions in this matter has been to pass these allegations to the police and to confirm to media outlets who approached our Communications Office that we had done so."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it is now looking at 17 allegations of a police cover-up in relation to child sex offences from the 1970s to 2000s.

In a statement earlier this week the IPCC said the initial police investigation had "gathered evidence against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, actors, clergy and others".

Meanwhile, Operation Fernbridge is examining claims of a network of abusers, including prominent politicians, using the former Elm guesthouse in Barnes, south-west London in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Among the alleged visitors was the former Liberal MP Cyril Smith who is also alleged to have abused boys at Knowl View School, in his Rochdale constituency.

And Operation Cayacos is looking at claims of a paedophile ring linked to Peter Righton, a founder of the Paedophile Information Exchange, a campaign group that lobbied for sex between adults and children to be legalised in the 1970s and 1980s.

A new four-person panel was named earlier this month by Home Secretary Theresa May, as the inquiry into child sex abuse in England and Wales officially starts work.

The inquiry will have statutory powers to compel witnesses to determine whether institutions took seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales.

Since the original child abuse inquiry was set up in July 2014, two chairwomen have resigned amid concerns over their links with the establishment.

 
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