LOURDES (FRANCE)
ITV News [London, UK]
August 13, 2026
The Bishop of Northampton has appeared in court over allegations he raped a teenage girl after they went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.
David Oakley, 70, is accused of twice having sex with the girl, who was aged under 16 at the time, in the early 2000s.
Oakley, who was then in his mid-40s and working as a Catholic priest, was charged in June with two counts of rape of a girl under the age of 16, following an investigation by Staffordshire Police’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday via videolink from his lawyer’s office to face the charges for the first time.
Prosecutor Sarah Madden told the court Oakley and the girl “started dating… after going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes”.
“She recalls sex with the defendant on at least two occasions,” Ms Madden said.
Lourdes, in south west France, attracts throngs of pilgrims every year to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Oakley, who was born in Stourbridge in the West Midlands and ordained as a priest in 1980, became Bishop of Northampton in 2020.
He is currently withdrawn from public ministry, having been first arrested by police in September 2025.
At court, he was not asked to enter pleas to the two charges as Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring sent the case to the Old Bailey.
“Given the profile of the case and the former employment of the defendant, this ought to go to the Central Criminal Court,” said the judge.
He released Oakley on bail, with conditions not to contact the alleged victim or her family, ahead of a plea hearing on September 10.
After news broke of the criminal charges, the Catholic Diocese of Northampton said Oakley had been charged after an investigation into “non-recent safeguarding allegations”.
It added: “We understand that this will be very distressing for all concerned but cannot comment further on an active legal process.”