Archbishop of York says he acted as soon as legally possible in sexual abuse case
The archbishop of York has said he acted as soon as legally possible against a priest repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct and abuse after facing calls to resign over his handling of the case.
Stephen Cottrell is due to take over temporary leadership of the church in three weeks when the resignation of the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, over his failures to deal properly with abuse takes effect.
In a personal statement on Monday, Cottrell said he had no legal grounds to take action against David Tudor until 2019, when fresh allegations were made against the priest.
His statement followed a BBC investigation that claimed that when Cottrell was bishop of Chelmsford he allowed Tudor to remain in post despite knowing that the Church of England had banned him from being alone with children and had paid £10,000 compensation to a sexual abuse victim.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/16/archbishop-of-york-stephen-cottrell-faces-calls-to-resign-over-handling-of-sexual-abuse-case