---
title: Child abuse cover up admitted by Bishop of Chichester
description: The Bishop of Chichester has admitted to a former choirboy, abused as a child by an Anglican priest, Roy Cotton, in East Sussex, that there was a cover-up.
---

[Abuse Survivors Blog | Emmott Snell ](https://www.emmottsnell.co.uk/blog)

# [Child abuse cover up admitted by Bishop of Chichester](https://www.emmottsnell.co.uk/blog/child-abuse-cover-up-admitted-by-bishop-of-chichester)

 Written by [Tracey Emmott](https://www.emmottsnell.co.uk/blog/author/tracey-emmott) | 26 Apr 2013

Dr Martin Warner, the Bishop of Chichester has admitted to a former choirboy, abused as a child by an Anglican priest, Roy Cotton, in East Sussex, that there was a cover-up. In a private letter of apology to Gary Johnson, Dr Warner wrote *"There has been deception and cover-up here"*.

He told the BBC: *"By cover-up, I mean that a person in authority, who has information, deliberately, knowingly ignores the information, does not pass it on; allows somebody who is a perpetrator of abuse to move from one post to another, allows somebody who is a perpetrator of abuse not to be challenged, brought to account - and thereby colludes actually with the abuse."* Dr Warner said it also referred to when an accusation was rebuffed.

*"There have been instances [of child sex abuse] we now see as the files are explored where that has happened. Roy Cotton is the most obvious example for which we have evidence"* he said.

Gary Johnson and his older brother were abused by Roy Cotton who worked for the Diocese of Chichester in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr Johnson said of the letter *"I've been taken seriously at last. It's given me some semblance of humanity. I've been validated, and I've been met at a level where I don't feel like a victim or a survivor. I feel like I am a party that is worth talking to".*

Dr Warner told the BBC he hoped the letter would be received by Mr Johnson *"as a statement of our commitment to honesty and openness"*. He added, *"I think it's very important also to say that where we see failure, where we see cover-up, where we see malpractice, we name it."*

[View full post](https://www.emmottsnell.co.uk/blog/child-abuse-cover-up-admitted-by-bishop-of-chichester)

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