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	Ex Coventry Priest Arrested in US on Sex Abuse Charges By Emma Stone Coventry Telegraph February 11, 2009 http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2009/02/11/ former-priest-held-on-sex-abuse-charges-92746-22903600/ A FORMER Coventry priest has been arrested in the US on suspicion of abusing altar boys 25 years ago. James Robinson, aged 71, is in custody awaiting extradition from California so that he can face trial in the UK. Mr Robinson worked as assistant parish priest at St Elizabeth's Church in Foleshill, Coventry, in the early 1980s. Two men in Coventry have claimed they were abused as boys and the archdiocese has awarded them both compensation. Mr Robinson has never faced a court in Britain. He moved to the States in 1993. Priest held by US cops in Coventry child abuse probe AMERICAN government officials and police swooped on the Californian home of a former Coventry priest wanted in connection with child abuse allegations in the UK. James Robinson, who was assistant priest at St Elizabeth's in Eld Road, Foleshill during the early 80s, was seized by U.S Marshals in the city of Duarte in Los Angeles County. The Marshals, who are the enforcement arm of the American federal courts, raided the former priest's home last week after an arrest warrant was issued. The US authorities have now agreed to extradite the 71-year-old back to the UK to face the abuse charges. The alleged offences were carried out in the Coventry and Birmingham areas and feature five complaints. The arrest took place on January 26, following an extradition request by West Midlands Police and the CPS, but details have only just emerged after Robinson's alleged victims were notified. At least two men in Coventry claim they were sexually abused as boys by him and had been given compensation by the archdiocese of about £25,000 apiece. Although the allegations were investigated by police, Robinson has never faced a court in this country. He moved to California in 1985 where there was no extradition treaty with the UK. The latest developments follow a change in law in the US state in 2006, which now makes extradition possible. Three years ago the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, wrote to Robinson pleading with him to return to Britain and face the allegations surrounding him. But Robinson emailed back denying he did anything wrong and saying he had no intention of returning to Britain. According to reports in America, Richard John James Robinson was arrested under an extradition treaty between the U.S., Britain and Northern Ireland. The Los Angeles Times reported the arrest warrant filed in federal court in Los Angeles stated the charges stemmed from "a chain of abuse starting in approximately 1953 and continuing for decades, even after Robinson was ordained as a priest in 1971." West Midlands Police was spurred into the latest action following an internal investigation which concluded last year. A complaint was made by another victim of sex abuse – unconnected to Robinson. The man, who was raised in Rugby but is now living in Scotland, complained that police were not properly investigating the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, which covers Coventry and Warwickshire. Police admit they failed to investigate his complaint, made after a TV documentary which showed one of the Coventry men confronting Robinson in 2003. Robinson transferred to a position in the Catholic church in Los Angeles but was barred from acting as a priest in 1993. When the documentary caught up with him he was working as a caretaker at a trailer park. That was in 2003, when one of the Coventry men, an alleged victim, travelled to LA with the documentary team. The married man came face-to-face with the former priest and demanded an apology. But Robinson denied any wrongdoing and ordered him off his property. A spokesman for West Midlands said: "The case is currently being handled by the US authorities who will be progessing the extradition. We remain in contact with them on a daily basis. "We have spoken to those who have made the complaints against this individual and will continue to update them as the extradition progresses."
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