Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey 'completely failed' a woman who had been sexually abused by a vicar in Sussex, the victim is claiming.
Alesha Racine, who waived her right to anonymity, says she wrote to Lord Carey in 1992 after discovering her abuser had returned to the church where she had been sexually assaulted.
It took Lambeth Palace nine months to respond fully, justifying the decision by saying protection for potential victims had to be weighed against 'the Christian duty of forgiveness', according to the BBC.
Michael Walsh was convicted of five counts of indecent assault and confessed to sexual relationships with another eight children.
He was sent to prison in 1990 but upon his release just two years later in 1992 he returned to the same church where he had carried out the abuse.
Formerly a teacher, lay vicar at Chichester Cathedral and head of the choir at another Chichester church, he returned to be part of the choir.
Ms Racine told the BBC she was concerned for the safety of the girls in that choir and wrote to then Archbishop of Canterbury for help.
'I was very concerned that my abuser had just come out of prison and it appeared that he'd just gone straight back into the parish church where he'd originally worked, and was again in a position of authority in the choir there where young children - specifically girls - sang.
'I was really worried that these girls were at a huge risk. I felt it was inevitable that children would be abused,' she said this week.
After three months without a reply she was told Lord Carey could not consider her worries because he was 'committed to a series of visits overseas, together with his summer break'.
Another month later she was told the 'Archbishop had been assured that there was no question of Michael Walsh being reinstated in the choir'.
But a separate letter nine months after raising her concerns confirmed her abuser was back in the choir.
The Archbishop's then chief of staff saying the parish authorities had taken 'great care' in allowing Walsh to the return to the choice 'weighing carefully the risk of re-offending against... the Christian duty of forgiveness'.
Speaking to the BBC this week after Lord Carey resigned from an honorary position in the Diocese of Oxford, Ms Racine said: 'I thought his response was deeply hurtful, in that it had taken me a lot of courage to write to him at all.
'Most of what he said was in defence of the Church and the people in it, rather than try to reach out to me as a victim.
'I do feel it was a complete failure on his part.'
A spokesman for Lord Carey said the correspondence had been carried out through his then chief of staff and so the former Archbishop could not comment.
'Lord Carey has absolutely no memory of this chain of correspondence or these events. He cannot therefore comment,' he said according to the BBC.
