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Richard Dawkins, perhaps the world's most notorious atheist campaigner, intends to have Pope Benedict arrested during his state visit to Britain for "crimes against humanity".

Dawkins has joined forces with renowned atheist writer Christopher Hitchens and together they have asked human rights lawyers to prepare a case against the pontiff.

Benedict will be in Britain between September 16 and 19, visiting London, Glasgow and Coventry.

A lawyer representing Dawkins and Hitchens, Mr Mark Stephens, said: "The courts will examine the claim of immunity. I believe that an English court would reject it. If the Pope was here on a state visit, ordinarily a head of state would have sovereign immunity. What I believe is that because he's not a sovereign, not a head of state, he's not entitled to the defence."

Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, said: “This is a man whose first instinct when his priests are caught with their pants down is to cover up the scandal and damn the young victims to silence.”

The Pope has been heavily criticised after it emerged that he signed a letter which delayed the punishment of a paedophile priest in the US for the "good of the universal church".

Source: Press Association & The Times