Archbishop of York to call for actions rather than words

But one woman has told of her profound disappointment at the response of the national Church leadership to the abuse she says she faced.

The woman, who does not want to be identified, says she was sexually abused as a girl in the 1980s by Tudor.

She only discovered last year that Tudor had been allowed back into the Church after suspension and had served as a priest for nine years under Mr Cottrell.

“I will find it difficult to listen to [a Christmas sermon from] Stephen Cottrell and not separate the message that he’s putting across from what I know,” she says.

A BBC Investigation revealed that when he became Bishop of Chelmsford in 2010, Mr Cottrell was told about abuse allegations against Tudor, a priest who was banned from being alone with children.

Mr Cottrell was later told he had paid an alleged victim, and the Church also settled a six-figure sum with another woman who said she had been abused by Tudor, but Tudor was only suspended in 2019 when a police investigation was launched.

The Archbishop said that that had been his first opportunity to act.