Bishops seek ex-vicar's eviction

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A court has been asked to repossess a vicarage from a former vicar who was barred from office for having an affair with a parishioner.

The Reverend Patrick Okechi was sacked as vicar of the Church of the Good Shepherd with St John, West Bromwich.

The Bishops of Lichfield and Wolverhampton and the Archdeacon of Walsall have started proceedings.

District Judge Simon Bull adjourned the case after questioning whether they had the legal right to seek possession.

'Move swiftly'

Mr Bull, who was sitting at Birmingham County Court, adjourned the case until a date to be fixed.

Dr Okechi was sacked from his position after details of an extra-marital affair emerged, but has not left the vicarage.

Last year a church tribunal ruled the father-of-three was guilty of "conduct unbecoming to the office and work of a clerk in holy orders" following an anonymous complaint about the affair.

The bishops and the archdeacon have started proceedings to regain the property in Bromford Lane, West Bromwich.

Mr Bull said: "What right in the property do the claimants have?

"It may be of inconvenience to the claimants, but if there are squatters in my neighbours' garden and my neighbours are not around, I don't have the right to take possession."

Legal research

Speaking after the brief hearing, Gavin Drake, the Diocese of Lichfield's director of communications, said it was disappointed that Tuesday's hearing had been delayed.

He said: "We want to move swiftly toward the appointment of a new vicar and we need the vicarage to house the vicar.

"In law, the vicarage belongs to the incumbent, the vicar.

"In this case, there isn't a vicar to own it and so the judge wants to ensure that, before he gives possession of the property to the bishops, the bishops do actually have the right for that.

"We have been given some time to do more legal research and we will do that and at the next hearing we'll hopefully get the possession."

Dr Okechi, who was said to have arrived back from a trip to Kenya on Monday, was not at the hearing.