 
|
|
|
“I heard that Revd Peter Hedge has been found guilty of these serious charges with the deepest regret and sadness. Clergy in the Church of England are expected to uphold the highest moral standards; by committing these very serious crimes Peter Hedge has betrayed the trust put in him by the people of Thornbury and Queensbury.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims who have been deeply damaged by someone who should have been nurturing them and keeping them safe. And I thank them for their courage in coming forward to give evidence.
“In recent years Child Protection has been one of the highest priorities of Bishops and those leading the Church of England. The Diocese of Bradford now has stringent policies in place that are followed closely to ensure children involved in church life are not only kept safe but are encouraged to flourish physically, emotionally and spiritually.
"We have adopted codes of good practice which help prevent abuse and these are regularly reviewed. We have increased our training of church workers in the area of safeguarding children, we have employed a child safeguarding officer to expand on earlier work done by volunteers and we liaise with statutory bodies more frequently. The Diocese of Bradford has already employed safeguarding professionals to carry out an external review of the records of all clergy and licensed lay workers to monitor whether there are causes for concern.
“It is about twelve years since Peter Hedge groomed and then first abused those who have come forward. Two years ago, as soon as the police informed me of their suspicions – and before there were formal charges, I immediately suspended him and since then we have worked closely with the police and Bradford Safeguarding Children Board to discover the truth in these matters. We will now be submitting this case to an independent review to see whether we can learn anything which will help us to improve our care of children still further. We shall do all we can to prevent any similar abuse from happening again.”
Right Revd. David James,
Bishop of Bradford
For more information contact:
Alison Bogle
