Channel 4 reported on Tuesday that the Bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath, has been accused of sexually assaulting one woman and harassing another. This is yet another scandal to join the growing list of scandals in the Church of England over the past few months.
Perumbalath, however rejected the accusations but said that has cooperated to the fullest to the National Safeguarding Team – NST that addresses complex safeguarding cases within the Church. Perumbalath was accused for incidents that dated between 2019 and 2023 which were raised against him by both a woman saying she had on several occasions being sexually assaulted to a fellow Bishop who alleged his harassment.
According to a statement by Perumbalath, the incidents reported are those which have happened in public, where others were around. In one case, police even conducted an inquiry and refused to take the matter any further. “Even though I feel that I have not done anything wrong, I believe it’s my duty to know how people see me do things,” he said, confirming that he is ready to follow the procedure that will be set forth for such cases.
This sets the allegations at a time when the Church of England is experiencing bad publicity over how it has handled cases of abuse. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, stepped down in November after he was criticized for not properly acting against one of the church’s leading child abusers. Another former Archbishop, George Carey, resigned in December after being implicated in having allowed a priest banned over claims of indecent behaviour into the ministry.
According to Channel 4, in the case of Perumbalath, there was a claim of cover-up. Apparently, interim head of the Church, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, was informed, but he failed to do anything about it. A complaint against Perumbalath was lodged in 2023. A report from the Church of England declared that that complaint was over with no current safeguarding concerns. A learning outcome, however was found.
The church is now considering reforms to its safeguarding system to strengthen independent oversight.
