The bishop of Liverpool John Peraballath is accused of sexual assault against one woman and harassment of another, according to a report by UK network Channel 4 for the latest in a series of scandals that have rocked the Church of England in recent months.

In a written statement sent to Reuters news agency, Perabalat denies the allegations, assuring that he had cooperated fully with the committee tasked with the investigation within the Church of England.

According to the Channel 4 report, a woman accused Peraballath of sexual assault between 2019 and 2023, while a bishop accused him of harassment.

“The allegations reported in the (Channel 4) show involve meetings that took place in public places, with others present,” Peraballath said, adding that police investigated one of these cases without deeming it appropriate to take further action.

“While I do not believe I erred in any way, I have taken seriously the lessons I have learned from this process about how my actions may be perceived by others,” the Liverpool bishop adds, stressing that he will facilitate further investigation of the cases if necessary.

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, was forced to resign last November when a report concluded he did not take sufficient action to stop the actions of a lawyer who had abused – physically, psychologically and sexually – dozens of boys and young men since 1970 at church summer camps.

Another former archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, was forced to resign his pastoral duties amid allegations that he had rehabilitated the clergyman David Tudor, who was expelled from the Church of England in the late 1980s over allegations of sexual abuse.

Channel 4 reported that there were allegations of an attempted cover-up by the Church of England’s interim leader, Stephen Cottrell, in the case of the Bishop of Liverpool.