British priest, 72, put two policemen in hospital after groping women on a train in Italy

Father Peter Slocombe, 72, put two Italian police officers in hospital

A 72-year-old Catholic priest put two Italian policemen in hospital after he was arrested for groping women on a train in Rome on Monday.

Father Peter Slocombe, from Gloucestershire, was convicted yesterday of groping women on a Rome underground train and lashing out at officers trying to arrest him.

As part of his closed-court sentence, Slocombe was placed under house arrest at a Vatican training college in Rome for two years and eight months.

He will also pay each of the officers €5,000.

Slocombe was said to have ‘repeatedly touched’ two women in their 40s on the train before running off.

After being reported to police by the women and chased by a group of officers, Slocombe then broke one officer’s nose and gave both men cuts and bruises.

They called for back-up before bundling the British priest, who was not wearing his robes, into a squad car at Rome’s main station.

A police spokesman said: ‘This guy was crazy. He was punching and kicking out at the officers.

‘He kept saying he was man of the cloth and was innocent but we have witnesses who say he was touching two women on the train and the victims identified him.’ 

Slocombe, who is from Gloucestershire, was put under house arrest in the Vatican for two years after the incident on Monday