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A leaked report has revealed that Anthony Pierce, a former bishop of the Church in Wales, admitted to sexually assaulting a teenage boy before he was appointed to the bishopric. The document, obtained by the BBC, indicates that Pierce confessed to committing a “criminal offence” during his tenure as a parish priest. This report was compiled months prior to his elevation to Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in 1999, yet the church retained the document for eleven years before eventually sharing it with the authorities.
Pierce, who is now 84 years old, received a prison sentence earlier this year after pleading guilty to historical sexual abuse involving another child. The 25-page handwritten report detailed an incident from 1990, expressing Pierce’s feelings of “intense guilt” and his awareness that he was an adult while the victim was still a child. The report also noted Pierce’s fear that his misconduct would become public knowledge and jeopardize his ministry. Known as one of the Church in Wales’ senior roles, Pierce’s appointment as bishop occurred just two months after the report was written. The victim, referred to in the document as Dean to protect his identity, has since passed away. At the time of the abuse, Pierce was described as a priest in his late 40s, while Dean was a 15-year-old characterized as “mercurial” and “very attractive.”
Legal representatives of Dean’s mother have criticized the report, suggesting it amounts to a “character assassination” intended to protect Pierce’s reputation and dismiss Dean’s allegations. Dean’s mother had raised concerns about the abuse twice with church officials: initial reports were made in 1993 to the then Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, Rt Rev Dewi Bridges, and again in January 1999. It was after the first complaint that Pierce reportedly admitted the offence in the report. Despite these allegations being known internally, police were not informed until 2010, two years after Pierce resigned from his bishopric. The Church in Wales made a subsequent report to the authorities in 2016 when submitting documents, including the handwritten report, to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. By this time, Dean had died.
The content of the report largely focuses on Dean’s youth and sexuality in a disparaging manner and was reportedly written at Pierce’s request for the eyes of a senior church member. The exact individuals who accessed the report and the resulting actions remain unclear. A church employee expressed concern, stating, “It should never have been written from what is clearly highly confidential information and certainly should not have formed part of any decision-making process.” The Church in Wales has stated that the report is an “important part” of a broader review into how allegations are managed within the church, with findings expected to be published in the coming year. Pierce, who declined to comment during the BBC’s inquiry, continues to serve a prison sentence following his conviction for multiple counts of indecent assault spanning 1985 to 1990
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