A jailed priest who preyed on young boys has NOT been defrocked by the Roman Catholic church – despite pleas directly to the Pope.
The news will sicken victims of Father James Robinson, currently serving a 21-year sentence for vile crimes dubbed “unimaginably wicked” by a Birmingham Crown Court judge.
One man, a victim of fellow twisted cleric Eric Taylor, has spent two years lobbying the Vatican, Birmingham Archdiocese and the Archbishop of Westminster in a bid to get Robinson “laicised” – kicked out of the priesthood.
He has also called on Pope Francis to bestow the ultimate punishment on the predatory priest – excommunication.
Taylor died in prison after being jailed for abusing boys at Coleshill’s Father Hudson Society home, but former boxer Robinson, now 76, is still alive and well, although behind bars.
He was collared in the American sunshine state of California six years ago and extradited to face the music for his monstrous crimes.
The evil priest, known as Father Jim, was slapped behind bars in 2010 for the systematic abuse of boys in parishes across the Midlands.
In a scathing indictment, Judge Patrick Thomas QC referred to Robinson as “devious, manipulative and bold”.
The trail of despair and broken lives Robinson left in his wake is a stain on the Catholic church, particularly the Birmingham Catholic church.
The priest with fighter’s features fled to America in 1985 as the net closed on his sickening, secret life.
A lack of information from these shores allowed Robinson to work as a priest in California where, incredibly, he received £800 per month from the Archdiocese of Birmingham until 2001.
Catholic Church top brass in the Second City may have been oblivious to the depths of Robinson’s depravity, but there is no doubt that his perversion was rewarded with a pay packet.
Father Jim returned to Britain in 2009, when he was a wanted man, to visit a sick family member. He slipped out of Britain unnoticed.
During that visit, he was confronted by a victim.
There has been a catalogue of correspondence between the victim and the highest echelons of the Papal powerhouse.
And the Mvictim, abused by Eric Taylor from the age of seven to 16, believes there is a good reason for the church’s ponderous approach to banishing the priest.
“Robinson is a gangster,” claimed the pensioner, who now lives in Scotland. “He was embedded in the boxing thing and the whole thing surrounding boxing. He mixed with the faces.
“If he is laicised – and he does not want to be – he will spill the beans, and the church knows that.
“Metaphorically, he knows where the bodies are buried. He will sing like a bird.
“People like him should not be given a second chance; they should not be allowed to move on. Victims do not have a life – their lives have been taken from them.”
The sweet smell of church incense solemnly swung by Robinson has been replaced by the sewer stench of his crimes – but, amazingly, he is still a priest.
His victim, who we cannot legally named, said: “There is not one documented case in this country of the Catholic church handing in one of their offending priests. It has all been victim-led.”
Raised in Brownhills, Robinson worked in churches across the Midlands, including Holy Family in Small Heath, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour at Rednal and Our Lady of Lourdes at Old Hill, Wolverhampton.
His trial was told how he abused six victims, now in their 50s and 60s, after turning his back on a career as a professional fighter to train for the priesthood. In all, nine individuals contacted detectives, but three were unable to attend court for “personal reasons”.
The former colliery blacksmith – full name Richard John James Robinson – moved from parish to parish, sexually abusing children including two altar boys. His status in the church allowed “unfettered and unlimited” access to children.
He showered them with gifts and took them for rides in his sports car.
The victim who spoke out this week said: “Robinson was evil. He clearly took advantage of his position of trust in the Catholic church. The Bible says with people like Robinson, it would be better that a noose be placed round their neck and they were cast into a well until dead.
“One day I decided ‘I am going to bite the bullet. Why am I carrying all this baggage? I am going to do something about it’.
“I have been lucky. I had no social graces, I had nothing. I was a sad, lonely person. I was inadequate, but I have moved on.
“I do not hate Robinson, what I hate is what he did.”
The victim admits to “disdain” for the Catholic church over its handling of the paedophile priests storm. “I have an unshakable belief in God, and I pray daily,” he said.
“But I am angry, disappointed and dismayed for those many good Catholics in Birmingham.
“The nettle must be grasped. I am not out to discredit the Catholic church, but what I do want to see is justice being done, and I see so many cases where justice has not been done. There must be a strong message.
“There are evil people who wormed their way into the Catholic church and the Catholic church protected them.”
Sick Eric Taylor. sentenced to seven years in 1998, WAS stripped of his priesthood in 2001, months before he died.
The church said then: “Eric Taylor received and accepted the decision of Pope John Paul II by which he is returned to the lay state within the Catholic Church.
“From that moment, he is no longer a Catholic priest.”
When asked about James Robinson, a spokesman for the Birmingham Archdiocese said laicisation was a matter for the Vatican.
But in response to a July 2014 letter to the Pontiff, Archbishop Antonio Mennini stated: “It is the said priest’s own bishop who is responsible for such matters and, as Apostolic Nuncio, I have no right to interfere.
“If I understand correctly he is/was a priest of the Archdiocese of Birmingham and if that is the case, it is really Archbishop Longley that you should contact again.”
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Birmingham said: “The canonical process to remove James Robinson from the clerical state continues in Rome through the offices of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.”