Bishop, 70, ‘raped 15-year-old girl after going on pilgrimage to holy town and made her think they were dating’

NewsUK News THE Bishop of Northampton has appeared in court accused of raping a teenage girl after a pilgrimage to Lourdes. David Oakley, 70, allegedly had sex with the girl twice in the early 2000s, when she was just 15 years old. The Bishop of Northampton appeared in court yesterday Credit: Diocese of Northampton Oakley was charged with two counts of rape of a girl under the age of 16 Credit: Catholics Bishops' Conference of England and Wales At the time of the alleged offences Oakley was in his mid 40s and working as a Catholic priest. He 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. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday 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 had: “started dating… after going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.” The prosecutor continued: “She [the victim] recalls sex with the defendant on at least two occasions.” Lourdes in the south west of France attracts crowds of pilgrims every year. They travel to the region to visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes – one of the most-visited Catholic shrines in the world. Oakley was born in Stourbridge in the West Midlands and ordained as a priest in 1980. Most read in The Sun He later became the 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 He is currently withdrawn from public ministry, having been first arrested by police in September 2025.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. The judge said: “Given the profile of the case and the former employment of the defendant, this ought to go to the Central Criminal Court.” He released Oakley on bail, with conditions not to contact the alleged victim or her family. Oakley will next appear in court at 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.”