An investigation has revealed the establishment figures whose intervention helped a disgraced Bishop evade prosecution for sex abuse for decades. The former Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, groomed and abused 18 aspiring young priests over a period spanning 15 years. He pleaded guilty to charges in September 2015 and was finally jailed in October. Ball had escaped justice over the same charges over 20 years earlier after he was given support by a member of the Royal family and establishment figures. The Telegraph reports: A Freedom of Information request by the Telegraph has led to the release of the letters written by some high profile figures in his support, they include former Lord Justice Anthony Lloyd, former Archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan and David Cameron’s late godfather Tory MP Tim Rathbone, who gave Mr Cameron his first work experience in the House of Commons. Mr Rathbone, who died from cancer in 2002, aged 69, wrote that he found it “literally inconceivable” that Ball would ever become involved with anyone in the way described. Anthony Lloyd, who was a Lord Justice at the time, described Ball as a “saint” in one of more than 2,000 letters sent to the Crown Prosecution [...]