Bishop seeking to dismiss charges he kissed girl, 15, at Lourdes and raped her
An application to dismiss the charges against the Bishop of Northampton will be now heard next year.
Last updated 10th Sep 2026
The Bishop of Northampton has appeared in court charged with raping a teenage girl in a presbytery and kissing her during a pilgrimage to Lourdes.
David Oakley, 70, is charged with indecent assault and two counts of rape against the girl, who was 15 at the time, in the early 2000s.
The defendant, then in his mid-40s and working as a Catholic priest, allegedly kissed her at the pilgrimage and raped her in a presbytery and a canal boat, according to court documents.
Oakley, who is on conditional bail, appeared at Old Bailey on Thursday with the next hearing set for January 4.
Last month, prosecutor Sarah Madden told the Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the defendant 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.
He was charged in June following an investigation by Staffordshire Police’s rape and serious sexual offences team.
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He is currently withdrawn from public ministry, having been first arrested by police in September 2025.