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	New Alleged Victim of Birmingham Priest James Robinson Contacts Police By Christina Savvas Sunday Mercury August 16, 2009 http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/midlands-news/2009/08/16/new-alleged-victim-of-birmingham -priest-james-robinson-contacts-police-66331-24450177/ A ROMAN Catholic priest extradited from America on child sex charges could face fresh abuse claims after a new alleged victim contacted detectives. Father James Robinson, 71, was flown back to Britain from Los Angeles last week at the request of West Midlands Police. The clergyman is alleged to have abused young boys in Walsall, Birmingham, Coventry and Wales between 1959 and 1983. Birmingham Magistrates remanded Fr Robinson in custody on Saturday morning. He will appear again at the city's crown court for a preliminary hearing on November 3. The former priest faces a total of 22 charges, including 12 of indecent assault and three of gross indecency. The Sunday Mercury has been contacted by a new alleged victim who is flying to Birmingham from Ireland next week to give West Midlands detectives a statement. He claims he was abused in the early 1960s when he was 11 years-old and living in Walsall. Now a stepfather-of-three, he moved to Ireland around 20 years ago. He said: "I've been asked to provide a statement to police and will be making the trip to Birmingham next week." Fr Robinson had been living in Los Angeles since moving there from the Midlands in the mid-1980s. He was successfully extradited from the US last Thursday and landed at Heathrow Airport a day later. The clergyman and former boxer, whose full name is Richard John James Robinson, had worked in the Birmingham and Coventry areas of the West Midlands. He trained at Oscott College, Sutton Coldfield, and went on to become parish priest at St Elizabeth's in Foleshill, Coventry, and Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Cradley Heath. The Sunday Mercury has run a series of articles on Fr Robinson. In 2004, we revealed how the Birmingham Archdiocese continued to pay the priest for nine years after he moved to America. The Archdiocese claimed the money was for 'medical treatment' and stressed that the payments had stopped in 2002. We also told in 2004 how California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had been asked to help extradite Fr Robinson back to Britain because of the child abuse investigation. A US magistrate finally authorised the extradition in June, after a change in law made the legal process easier. A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham said it was cooperating fully with police and other agencies.
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