Manx church 'actively suppressed' abuse allegations against vicar

Bishop says diocese response to accusations was 'reprehensible'

A report into the crimes of a reverend convicted of abusing children has found the Diocese of Sodor and Man actively suppressed allegations from a victim on the Island.

Graham Gregory, who was a vicar in Douglas between 1975 and 1991, was serving a second jail sentence for indecent assaults on children when he died in 2019.

An independent review by the UK's national safeguarding team looked at how five diocese handled allegations against Gregory - including Sodor and Man.

The report found records on the Island relating to Gregory were extremely sparse, something it described as a cause for concern.

He was accused of inappropriately touching an eight-year-old girl who later told her parents about the incident.

When they approached the then-Bishop of Sodor and Man he urged them not to report the matter to the police.

The mother told the review that the family continued to receive unwelcome and persistent contact from Gregory until he left the Island a year later.

The review says the bishop placed the reputation of the church, and the diocese, above the welfare of the victim.

In response to the report the current bishop, Peter Eagles, says the diocese accepts the very serious criticism of its lack of care for the victims.

He adds that the response to the accusations was not just inadequate, but deeply reprehensible, and committed to implementing the strongest possible safeguarding standards in the Manx church in the future.