Last year, Venessa Pinto pled guilty to "stalking, involving serious distress or harm" of local assistant church warden Jay Hulme.
Pinto had been employed as a lay preacher by the Church of England's diocese of Leicester.
An "independent HR expert" found Pinto was responsible for the abuse against Hulme.
But bishop of Leicester Martyn Snow, who sits by right in the House of Lords as a 'lord spiritual', contradicted the findings and failed to uphold the complaint.
Snow is a favourite to replace Justin Welby as archbishop of Canterbury. Welby resigned last year after a review revealed he "could and should" have done more in response to the sadistic abuse by John Smyth.
'Devastating campaign of stalking and harassment'
According to the BBC, Pinto conducted a "devastating campaign of stalking and harassment" against Hulme, who is gay, after he rejected her romantic overtures in 2021.
In 2022, Hulme raised concerns about Pinto's behaviour with the diocese following inaction from local police.
In a subsequent meeting with Hulme, Snow said he did not believe Pinto was responsible for the harassment and said he would not uphold the complaint.
He allegedly further accused Hulme of "witchcraft" for praying in the dark with a candle. The bishop denies this.
Snow also reportedly told Hulme that his priesthood training would be "slowed down".
Hulme said he was told Pinto would not lose her licence to preach and instead it was he who would be punished.
This was despite Snow having asked Pinto to "step back" from ministry prior to the meeting with Hulme. This suggests the bishop may have known about Pinto's harassment when he denied Hulme's claims.
"It felt like an enormous gut punch. These made-up allegations were being presented to me by a person with the power of a bishop, in a meeting which I suddenly realised I had no control over," Hulme said.
"She [Pinto] had somehow managed to make a bishop become part of her stalking campaign of harassment and threats, and use his power and position, and I couldn't believe it was happening."
In 2022, Pinto was elected to the Church's legislative body, the General Synod, and appointed to the Crown Nominations Commission, the panel which selects new bishops.
Leicestershire Police finally charged Pinto in 2023. Following her conviction, the bishop apologised to Hulme.
"He did acknowledge in some way his own part in it and that he should have done better, and I agree," Hulme said.
Bishop of Willesden also implicated
Separately, Kat Gibson, who also worked for the diocese, made complaints against Pinto more than a year before Pinto's harassment of Hulme began.
Gibson's manager allegedly said Pinto's behaviour was "definitely not a safeguarding issue" and told Gibson her ministry could be threatened if she made further complaints.
Gibson said her manager wrongly claimed he had discussed her concerns about Pinto with the bishop and human resources.
Her manager, Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, was subsequently made bishop of Willesden.
In 2022, the diocese announced Pinto would be leaving and thanked her for her positive contribution.
Gibson described the diocese's statement on Pinto's departure as "very covered up and silenced".
Gibson said she wanted to raise safeguarding concerns with Pinto's subsequent employer given that she would be working with vulnerable adults.
However, she was allegedly told by the diocese of Leicester that she was "explicitly not allowed to tell them anything" and could not warn them.
Gibson says she was told by "senior national safeguarding officers in the Church" that it would be "10 to 15 years" before a robust safeguarding process was in place.
Earlier this year, archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell personally thanked Pinto for her service, despite her having left the General Synod in disgrace.
Cottrell has faced multiple calls to resign over his alleged failure to handle abuse cases properly, the most recent being his failure to act on allegations of sexual assault against then bishop of Liverpool John Perumbalath.