YORK Minster has been accused of breaching natural justice by banning bellringer David Potter for life, without giving him chance to defend himself.

His lawyer, Colin Byrne, claimed the Dean and Chapter then axed all 30 volunteer bellringers after some had raised concerns about the unfair way they felt he had been treated.

“The bellringers were not very happy and voiced their concerns and because of this they were all sacked, which itself is a further breach of natural justice,” he claimed.

“I was shocked by the lack of due process and natural justice - the right to a fair hearing.”

Mr Byrne also challenged the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu’s, assertion last week that there was still an ongoing inquiry into safeguarding issues at the cathedral, saying this contradicted a letter he received in September from a Minster Canon telling him: “The matter is closed.”

Mr Byrne, of Howard & Byrne, was lifting the lid on a 17-year saga that has culminated in the cathedral’s bells being controversially silenced for up to six months.

He said Mr Potter was suspended from bell ringing in 1999, and then interviewed on December 23 on suspicion of indecent assault. The police and CPS decided on February 14, 2000, that no further action should be taken, as there was insufficient evidence and no realistic prospect of a conviction, and the Minster lifted his suspension on March 8, 2000.

York Press:

Fourteen years passed until concerns were raised in 2014 about Mr Potter being given clearance under a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check, despite the investigation back in 1999. “Inferences were also made that amounted to little more than gossip and had no evidential basis,” he said.

Mr Potter was invited to a York council safeguarding board meeting, and he agreed to cooperate, but heard nothing more until on April 20, 2015, he was suspended from ringing again at the Minster.

York magistrates then granted an interim application by North Yorkshire Police for a sexual risk order against him, which was quashed at York Crown Court on July 23 and, on December 17, the application was dismissed and the force was - very unusually - ordered to pay Mr Potter’s costs of £9,800. “This was an indication of the paucity of the application,” he claimed.

Mr Potter sought to cooperate but then on July 28 this year, his case was discussed without he or his legal representative being given opportunity to make representations, and he was permanently excluded from the Minster.

A Minster spokeswoman said it could not comment on Mr Byrne’s claims, as Chapter’s discussions and decisions were ‘private and confidential.’

Bishopthorpe Palace officials said the Archbishop was away and they could not comment.