A 70-year-old bishop has appeared in court for the first time accused of two counts of rape against a female under the age of 16.

David Oakley, the Bishop of Northampton, was charged in June following an investigation by Staffordshire Police.

He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink from his lawyer’s office.

Oakley was not asked to enter a plea during the hearing as Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring sent the case to the Old Bailey.

Oakley was released on bail, with conditions not to contact the alleged victim, or her family, ahead of a plea hearing on 10 September.

The incidents allegedly took place in Staffordshire between February 2000 and February 2001, when Oakley was in his mid-40s working as a Catholic priest.

Oakley was born in Stourbridge, West Midlands, and ordained as a priest in 1980 before becoming Bishop of Northampton in 2020.

Oakley retains the title of Bishop but has withdrawn from public ministry.

The Catholic Diocese of Northampton – which covers Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire – said in a previous statement that it recognised the case was “very distressing for all concerned”.

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