NORTHAMPTON (UNITED KINGDOM)
The Pillar [Washington DC]
August 13, 2026
By Pillar
Oakley took a leave of absence, which he and his diocese said was for “personal reasons.”
An English bishop accused of raping a minor appeared in court on Thursday, where he was ordered not to contact his alleged victim ahead of his plea hearing set for next month.
Bishop David Okaley appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video from his lawyer’s office for the Aug. 13 preliminary hearing, with the bishop released from custody on bail as he awaits his upcoming trial.
The bishop, 70, was charged last month with two counts of rape of a minor, over claims dating back to alleged sexual misconduct involving a girl younger than 16, which reportedly took place between February 2000 and February 2001, when Oakley was in ministry as a priest.
While charges were announced in June, Oakley was under investigation for months before that, and the bishop began a leave of absence in October 2025, which he and his diocese announced was taken for “personal reasons.”
At the time it was announced that Oakley was taking the “personal reasons” leave of absence, the bishop was considered a possible contender to become the Archbishop of Westminster and effectively the leader of the Catholic Church in the country.
Oakley was in ministry as a seminary rector before his 2020 appointment as a diocesan bishop. Sources close to the case have told The Pillar that the Archdiocese of Birmingham, where Oakley was incardinated, was first informed in 2006 of possible sexual misconduct on the priest’s part, and failed to notify law enforcement officials or initiate canonical proceedings.
Both the Birmingham archdiocese and a spokesman for Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who led the Birmingham archdiocese at that time, told The Pillar that because of the active criminal case against Oakley, they were unable to comment.
Oakley’s Northampton diocese, which serves around 180,000 Catholics in central England, is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Westminster in London.
Pope Leo named Archbishop Richard Moth as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Northampton June 30.
Leo XIV specified that Moth will remain apostolic administrator sede plena at the discretion of the Apostolic See, which means that Oakley retains the title of Bishop of Northampton as he undergoes criminal proceedings.
The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales explained June 30 that Moth’s appointment was “a temporary role, by which the Holy See ensures that the pastoral governance of a diocese will continue, when it is not possible for a diocesan Bishop to exercise his office.”
“Therefore, the governance of the Diocese of Northampton is now canonically entrusted to Archbishop Moth,” it said.