George Bell and the Presumption of Innocence

Many readers  here will be familiar with my interest in the late George Bell, the controversial Bishop of Chichester who( among other things) opposed Winston Churchill's deliberate bombing of German civilians in the war.

 

Long after his death, the Bishop has been accused of child abuse. I believe that he, like any accused person, is entitled to the presumption of innocence and has not been allowed it.

 

This article in this week's 'Spectator' gives my position

 

http://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/11/the-church-of-englands-shameful-betrayal-of-bishop-george-bell/

 

The Church of England statement on the matter is here:

 

https://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2015/10/statement-on-the-rt-revd-george-bell-(1883-1958).aspx

And two of the three newspaper accounts of the matter are here

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/church-of-england-bishop-george-bell-abused-young-child

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11947686/Revered-Bishop-George-Bell-was-a-paedophile-Church-of-England.html

 

The swift renaming of a building once named after him is described here

http://www.chichestercathedral.org.uk/visiting/_folder1/

 

And the BBC's radio 4 'Great Lives', in which I made the case for his greatness, can be listened to here:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rl8n8