Prince Charles Tells Peter Ball’s Victims That He Has ‘Deep Regrets’ Over Siding With Pedophile Priest

Prince Charles is feeling some “deep regrets” for initially siding with disgraced priest Peter Ball and is reaching out to the victims. He claims that Ball “mislead” him before he was found guilty on 18 counts of sexual abuse in 2015.

Ball was the Church of England Bishop at the time of his crimes.

“My heart goes out to the victims of abuse and I applaud their courage as they rebuild their lives and, so often, offer invaluable support to others who have suffered,” Charles said in a letter according to People.

He continued, “It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of Mr. Ball’s activities. That’s why I wanted to volunteer the facts in this letter, which I believe to be true, in the hope that they might be able to help your important work.”

Charles advocated for the disgraced priest in 1993 USA Today reports, when Ball was given a caution for a single count of gross indecency. Ball was accused of molesting the 18 teenagers between 1977 and 1992.

The prince claims he was ignorant of Ball’s crimes until he was convicted and says that he never sought to “influence either of the police investigations” or instruct any members of his staff to interfere.

The Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse released documents today and it was revealed that Charles stood behind the bishop in 1997, writing a letter that cast doubt on one of his accusers.

Charles referred to victim Neil Todd as a “frightful, terrifying man” and suggested that he was lying. He also referred to Todd as “horrid” in the letter.

As the Inquisitr reported, Charles was refusing to make a formal statement on the crimes committed by Ball. A witness statement was required of him at the time, leading to a “lengthy and extensive correspondence between Charle’s lawyers and the inquiry.”

Following Ball’s conviction, the Anglican church is being investigated over the way they handled the sexual abuse case. It was reported that Ball had “influential friends, both within and outside the church” at the time he was being investigated.

It is suggested that his friendship with Prince Charles helped him influence members of the church. Evidence of the relationship was leaked before the hearing, but his lawyers said that he was not able to be “compelled to give a statement regarding his friendship” with Ball at the time.