A PAEDOPHILE Bishop may have posed as his identical twin brother to officiate in services in Cornwall.

The Church of England is investigating claims that Peter Ball, 84, preached in a "limited number of churches" in the diocese of Truro in place of his brother, Bishop Michael.

Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, who live in Aller, near Langport, was jailed for 32 months last October for sexually abusing 18 teenagers between 1977 and 1992.

Church officials are now looking into whether he impersonated his brother, who was a Bishop in Cornwall in the 1990s.

The Rt Rev Tim Thornton, Bishop of Truro, said: "We have one or two bits of evidence now where it does appear as if Bishop Peter went and did things which Bishop Michael should have been doing.

"It might be that Bishop Peter thought it was clear that he was being Bishop Peter.

"On some occasions, he might have made it clear at the beginning that he was there in place of his brother, but it might not have been evident to everybody."

Ball was originally investigated over claims he abused a trainee monk in 1993, but he was let off with a caution and continued to officiate as a priest until 2010.

Meanwhile, Dame Moira Gibb has been appointed to chair an independent review into the way the Church responded to the Peter Ball case.

Bishop Tim said: "It is crucially important that the Church takes a long and objective look at events of the past to identify if, when and how mistakes were made.

"What we learn will help us to shape our behaviour now and in future as we confront what went wrong in the past and then endeavour to ensure both the Church and society as a whole are as safe as we can possibly make them."

An independent inquiry into child sexual abuse chaired by Justice Lowell Goddard will also look at the Peter Ball case.

Bishop Tim added: "The diocese of Truro will, of course, offer every co-operation to either or both reviews, and we offer our prayers to all those involved."