A solicitor who represented a convicted paedophile has been struck off.

Christopher Peak, the former legal advisor to the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester, agreed to remove himself from the roll of solicitors for representing bishop Peter Ball despite there being a conflict of interest.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said that in 1992 Mr Peak became the personal solicitor to Ball, then the bishop of Gloucester, to defend him against multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving congregants, some of whom included minors and vulnerable adults.

Ball, who was also bishop of Lewes, admitted to Mr Peak that he had committed offences of indecent assault and gross indecency.

The SRA found Mr Peak had “wilfully or recklessly disregarded the risk of harm” by agreeing to defend Ball while also acting as the registrar and legal advisor for the diocese.

Mr Peak successfully encouraged the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to issue Ball with a caution following his arrest in 1992.

Although Ball subsequently resigned, the Church took no disciplinary action and Ball was not placed on the church’s list of clergy about whom there were concerns.

Instead, Ball was permitted to carry out services within the Church, including working with children.

Ball was not convicted until 2015, after new evidence of his abuse of boys and young men emerged and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

He was released on licence in 2017 and died in June 2019 at the age of 87.

One of Ball’s victim, Neil Todd, took his own life after police reopened the investigation.

The Church’s report concluded in 2017 that its actions were “likely to have led people in the Church to believe that Ball was essentially innocent”, when Mr Peak at least knew he was not.

Ball also used his friendships with senior establishment figures, including King Charles, to evade justice.

In 1995, the then-prince told Ball in a letter: “I wish I could do more. I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated.”

Between 2015 and 2018 concerns over Mr Peak’s role were raised by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse and the National Secular Society (NSS).

NSS president Keith Porteous Wood welcomed the result.

“The clear conflict of interest led to an unacceptable delay in Ball’s conviction, putting children at risk and adding to the anguish of his victims,” he said.