The former Bishop of Monmouth has confirmed that the Church of England had passed the name of former Welsh MP Leo Abse to the Metropolitan Police investigating an alleged Westminster paedophile network.

The former Bishop of Monmouth has confirmed that the Church of England had passed the name of former Welsh MP Leo Abse to the Metropolitan Police investigating an alleged Westminster paedophile network. On 22 March 2015 the Sunday Times reported the Rt. Rev. Dominic Walker had informed the Bishop of Durham, the Rt. Rev. Paul Butler, who is leading the church’s review of historic sexual abuse, that when he served as a vicar in Brighton in the 1980’s he had counseled three men who claimed to have been abused by Abse, who died in 2008. “A number of survivors independently gave the name of a particular MP as being involved. I don’t believe there was any collusion in their stories,” Bishop Walker said, but added the three did not have a “shred of evidence” to support their claim. A flamboyant backbench MP, Abse was MP for Pontypool from 1958 to 1983 and Torfaen from 1983 to 1987. The Sunday Times reported the police investigation of Abse was part of a wider review of an alleged paedophile “politicians’ network” that included Abse’s close friend George Thomas, the former Labour Speaker of the House of Commons.