Bishop of Warrington made sexual harassment criticism against former Bishop of Liverpool

The Bishop of Warrington, Bev Mason, has revealed that she was the feminine bishop who made a criticism of sexual harassment against the Bishop of Liverpool, Dr John Perumbalath, who resigned this week. 

Dr Perumbalath resigned on Thursday after being accused of sexual misconduct by Bishop Mason and a lady within the Diocese of Chelmsford. He has denied the allegations. 

In a pastoral letter to the Diocese of Liverpool on Thursday, Bishop Mason said that in March 2023 while she acting Bishop of Liverpool, she raised “significant concerns” about Dr Perumbalath, including her own disclosure, after being advised of a separate criticism raised against him. 

She said she had spent the time since then pursuing “proper and appropriate ecclesiastical judicial process” but felt that the Church has still not “properly and satisfactorily addressed concerns which were raised”. 

“A bishop can’t be above the law. A bishop can’t be handled in another way from a priest. If anything, a bishop have to be held to greater scrutiny. This is a biblical imperative,” she said. 

She went on to call for change within the Church of England. 

“My prayer is that now things have been brought into the sunshine, there can be no more defendedness but an honest scrutiny of what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, where the gaps sit and the way we address them,” she said. 

She added, “This, I hope and pray, can be a kairos moment for the church – a time of honesty, humility, repentance, unity, hope and blessing – a time when we are able to tear down the idols which have disoriented us and lift up again the incarnate God, who was crucified, is glorified and who’s the Lord of the Church – the Lord of all.” 

Dr Perumbalath denied the allegations in a letter announcing he had taken the choice to retire to be able to stop the allegations becoming a “distraction”.

“Earlier this week I used to be approached by Channel 4 News, who informed me they might be broadcasting a story containing allegations of inappropriate behaviour by me against two different women,” he said. 

“Since those allegations were made, I actually have consistently maintained that I actually have not done anything fallacious and proceed to accomplish that. Since the claims were made in 2023, they’ve been investigated and thought of by experts from the National Safeguarding Team and had found them unsubstantiated.

“The first allegation was also investigated by the police, leading to no further motion. Despite this, media reports have treated me as guilty on all charges and treated these allegations as fact.”

He added: “This rush to judgement and my trial by media (be that social or broadcast) has made my position untenable as a result of the impact it is going to have on the Diocese of Liverpool and the broader Church whilst we await further reviews and next steps.” 

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has come under pressure to resign over claims he tried to influence members of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) into approving Dr Perumbalath because the Bishop of Liverpool despite concerns about him. Archbishop Cottrell has denied the claims.