Former Abbot of Ealing Abbey Arrested in Kosovo

Lawrence Soper wanted in connection with child abuse allegation

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The former Abbot of Ealing Abbey has been arrested in Kosovo after being on the run for over five years.

According to a local newspaper, Insajderi, Lawrence Soper was arrested in a town called Pec in the west of the country by Kosovan police under a European Arrest Warrant on Thursday (11 May). The paper said that he had been living in the country for several years under the name Andrew.

Lawrence Soper

He was being hunted over offences allegedly carried out when he was abbot from 1991 to 2000. In June 2010, a man in his forties made an allegation that he was sexually assaulted when he was attending St Benedict’s School. Lawrence Soper was arrested and bailed in September and but failed to return when asked in March 2011 resulting in the European Arrest Warrant being issued for him in 2012. Police originally believed the fugitive, who is thought to be in his mid-seventies, was living in Italy.

The police have confirmed to the BBC that the extradition process was under way to return him to the UK.

A Foreign Office spokesman told the Press Association, "Our embassy is providing assistance following the arrest of a British national in Peja, Kosovo, on Wednesday 11 May."

May 15, 2016

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