On 26 February 2025, the Church in Wales issued the Press Release Supplementary Statement from The Church in Wales on the case of Anthony Pierce, extracts of which are reproduced below.

Supplementary Statement from The Church in Wales on the case of Anthony Pierce

Provincial news Posted: 26 February 2025

On February 7th, Anthony Pierce, who was Bishop of Swansea and Brecon from 1999 until 2008, appeared at Swansea Crown Court and admitted five counts of indecent assault on a male child under the age of 16. The offences date from between 1985 and 1990, when Mr Pierce was a parish priest in West Cross, Swansea. He has been remanded on bail and a provisional date of March 7th has been set for sentencing at Swansea Crown Court.

On the day of his court appearance, the Church in Wales issued the following statement:  which said that the Church in Wales is appalled at the shocking offences that have been revealed in the case and which expressed the deepest sympathy with the victim for the abuse they have suffered[*].

The statement also made it clear that when the offences were reported to the church’s safeguarding team in 2023, they were passed straight to police, while the church also immediately began an internal investigation into the background to the case.

That investigation revealed that a separate allegation had been received about Mr Pierce in 1993 and had been known to a small number of senior figures in the Church but that this allegation had not been passed to police until 2010.  As a result, the church has commissioned an independent external review. The review began on the day Mr Pierce appeared in court, and its terms of reference were published in full on the Church in Wales’s website. They are available here. All of this information was placed in the public domain on February 7th.

Comment

The Press Release notes that several inquiries have since been received relating to this case, and provides further information to address those questions, under the headings:

• How independent is the Review?
• How extensive is the Review?
• Is a wider review of safeguarding necessary?
• What will the Church do about Mr Pierce now the offences have been admitted?
• Do we support the calls for a Child Protection Agency for Wales whose responsibilities would include church safeguarding?

The Church encourages anyone with safeguarding concerns to contact a member of our team via the Church in Wales website: https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/safeguarding/reporting-safeguarding-concern/

Tel: 02920 348200

Alternatively, Safe Spaces is a free and independent support service, providing a confidential, personal and safe space for anyone who has been abused through their relationship with either the Church of England, the Catholic Church in England and Wales or the Church in Wales.

Update, 12 March 2025: See Church of Wales Statement on Anthony Pierce sentence, following the sentence of Anthony Pierce at Swansea Crown Court on 12 March 2025. 

[*] The initial Press Release Anthony Pierce Court Case, which was published on 7 February 2025, includes the Terms of Reference for the Independent Case Review into the Church in Wales’ handling of an allegation of abuse against Anthony Pierce.