Bishop seeks to have child rape case dismissed

A 70-year-old Roman Catholic bishop is seeking to have a court case in which he is accused of two counts of raping a teenage girl dismissed.

David Oakley, the Bishop of Northampton, was charged in June following an investigation by Staffordshire Police.

He is accused of kissing a teenage girl while on pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, and then having sex with her twice in the UK when she was under the age of 16.

Oakley appeared at the Old Bailey, in London, and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.

He has been released on bail with conditions not to contact the alleged victim or her family.

The two alleged incidents of rape took place in Staffordshire between February 2000 and February 2001, when Oakley was in his mid-40s working as a Roman Catholic priest.

Lourdes attracts millions of Roman Catholic pilgrims every year, who wish to visit where a local girl is said to have seen apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the 1850s.

Michelle Heeley KC, Oakley's defence barrister, said she was seeking to have the case dismissed before it could reach trial.

Judge Trowler provisionally set the dismissal hearing for 4 January 2027.

If the case goes ahead Oakley will appear at the Old Bailey for trial on 28 June 2027.

Oakley retains the title of Bishop but has withdrawn from public ministry.

He was born in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, and ordained as a priest in 1980, before becoming Bishop of Northampton in 2020.

In his place the Archbishop of Westminster, Richard Moth, has been appointed temporary administrator of the Diocese of Northampton by Pope Leo.

In a previous statement, the diocese said it recognised the case was "very distressing for all concerned".

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