Mrs A brought a complaint against the respondent, the Revd Dr Patrick Okechi, incumbent of the parish of the Good Shepherd with St John, West Bromwich. She alleged that she had had a sexual relationship with the respondent from Spring 2004 until February 2006. The respondent denied this relationship, suggesting instead that the complainant had become obsessed with him. The respondent disputed much of the complainant's evidence. The tribunal considered the evidence of telephone records, including intimate text messages and large numbers of calls from the vicarage to the complainant, as evidence in favour of the complainant's version of events. The tribunal unanimously concluded that the respondent had formed an inappropriate adulterous relationship with the complainant and that this was conduct unbecoming within section 8(1)(d) of the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003. In considering penalty, the tribunal took into account the 28-month period of the respondent's suspension from office pending the hearing. He was removed from office and prohibited from exercising any functions of his orders for ten years. The chairman also made an order preventing identification of the complainant or her family, with a penal notice attached. [WA]
A transcript of the tribunal's determination may be found at http://www.ecclaw.co.uk/clergydiscipline/okechi1.pdf and of the imposition of penalty at http://www.ecclaw.co.uk/clergydiscipline/okechi2.pdf
