A FORMER Bishop of Swansea & Brecon, the Rt Revd Anthony Pierce, has been sentenced to four years and one month after pleading guilty to indecent assault.
Bishop Pierce, 84, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday, after admitting five counts of indecent assault on a male child under the age of 16 (News, 7 February).
In a statement read to the court, the victim said that, while the abuse was taking place, he had “an overwhelming sense of embarrassment, as I could not feel the courage to say no”.
He said that he had been left unable to form relationships, and developed an alcohol dependency, BBC News reported.
Judge Catherine Richards, passing sentence, told Bishop Pierce that he was “expected to be trusted and respected. Any parent or adult at that time would understandably have trusted that their child was safe with you, and you would act in accordance with your professed Christian values. Instead, you began to groom him.”
The offences occurred over five years, from 1985, when he was a parish priest. He was Bishop of Swansea & Brecon from 1999 until his retirement in 2008.
Bishop Pierce will spend half of his sentence in prison, before likely being released on licence. He will be on the sex-offenders register for life.
A spokesperson for the Church in Wales said that the sentence “reflects the shocking nature of these offences and the gross breach of trust which they represent”, and confirmed that Bishop Pierce would now face a church disciplinary tribunal.
The current Bishop of Swansea & Brecon, the Rt Revd John Lomas, will ask the tribunal to consider deposing Bishop Pierce from Holy Orders.
“Anthony Pierce has abused his position, disgraced his Church, and, worst of all, has inflicted appalling and lasting trauma on his victim. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim in this case, who has shown immense courage in reporting what are deeply painful experiences. We offer him the most heartfelt apology for what he has had to endure,” the spokesperson said.
The abuse was disclosed to the Church in 2023, and prompted an internal inquiry, which found that another allegation had been made in 1993, by a different person, but not passed on to police until 2010, by which time the alleged victim had died.
It was announced last month that an independent review of the handling of the 1993 allegation had been commissioned.
