April 2016

Pervert jailed for almost 13 years is revealed as former school governor

A paedophile – jailed for almost 13 years – was a primary school governor before he was brought to justice.

Glenn Wright has been locked up for a series of sexual offences, including rape.

However it can now be revealed that the 56-year-old was a governor at Middlesbrough’s Abingdon Primary School.

The Gazette understands that none of the offences committed by Wright relate to his stint as a governor.

However one person who knew Wright during his time at the school said he took an active interest in sport at the Abingdon Road facility.

He added: “He was a horrible person and very controlling.”

He added that once his crimes became public knowledge through Facebook, Wright became a virtual hermit inside his Stamford Street home in central Middlesbrough.

“He was hiding away in his home for the last two years ever since he had his computers and electronics seized,” said the man, who asked not to be identified.

The man added that Wright was threatened by people in the area after he was named and shamed on social media.

He added: “I don’t know if they know just how bad his crimes were yet, but when they find out they will be disgusted.”

Those crimes included rape, indecent assault and gross indecency with a child.

While he reportedly had an interest in local sport, the FA confirmed that Wright was never registered as a coach or involved in junior football.

He did serve for four years at the high-rated Teesside primary, which Ofsted rated as being a “good” school in its previous inspection.

Public records show an inspection carried out while Wright was on the board of governors said the school benefitted “from an extremely conscientious body of governors” who took “a keen interest in its sustained development and in pupils”.

Wright was jailed at Teesside Crown Court on April 1 to 12 years and nine months and placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

He was convicted after trial on five counts of indecent assault on a female, one of gross indecency with a child and one of child rape.

April 2016

Mum’s shock as man who sexually ‘experimented’ on boy walks free

A MOTHER has spoken of her shock after a man who used her seven-year-old son for sexual “experimentation” walked free from court.

Frederick Daly, 22, abused the boy in Hull eight years ago, when he was 14.

The youngster reported it at the time and Daly was interviewed but not then prosecuted.

He was found guilty at a retrial at Hull Crown Court in March of sexual assault on a child under 13, two counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, and causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Sentencing Daly yesterday, Judge Simon Jack accepted submissions it was right to sentence him as a 14-year-old.

He also accepted a defence submission that Daly was experimenting at the time.

Sentencing Daly to nine months in jail, suspended for two years, the judge told him: “I take the view, as Mr [Michael] Bosomworth suggests, that this was experimentation as you had doubts about your sexuality.

“[The boy] was the unfortunate victim of that experimentation.”

Speaking outside court, the victim’s mother, who attended the hearing, said: “I wish I hadn’t gone to court.

“For the judge to say that, it’s almost as if he’s making out my son is an experimental guinea pig, or a rat or a mouse.

“He’s not. He’s human, he’s a little boy.

“He walks free from court and my son and my family have got a life sentence for what he did.”

Mr Bosomworth said Daly, now of Streatley Road, Brent, London, describes himself as bisexual.

“This is not someone who is attracted in a paedophile sense to young boys,” Mr Bosomworth said.

Statements from the victim and his mother detailing the harrowing impact of Daly’s crimes were read to the court.

The victim said: “Growing up in this country, I used to feel safe because of the law, which enforces human rights.

“However, my right to freedom from degrading treatment has been taken from me, making me feel worthless compared to everyone else.”

His mother said in an “extensive” statement: “My son’s childhood has gone, not even a distant memory.

“Any happy memories of his childhood are tarnished by the flashbacks to those horrific events that plague him and are constantly in his thoughts.”

Daly was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work, must sign the sex offenders register, and was made subject to a restraining order.

Judge Jack said of the delay in prosecuting him: “It is regrettable, in my view, that this case was not proceeded with eight years ago when the original allegations were made and the defendant was interviewed by police.

“At the time, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service took a rather different view from the view taken today, and frequently cases involving unsupported allegations from a child were not pursued.

“A different view is taken today.”

April 2016

Riding instructor jailed for groping teenage girls at stables across Central Scotland

A riding instructor who groped a series of teenage girls at stables all over Central Scotland has been jailed.

James Keers targeted five different girls aged 13 to 16 over a 14-year period, sometimes offering them the use of one of his own horses to befriend them.

One girl was taken repeatedly on treks to “build up her confidence”, but the rides ended in woods where the married father put his hands down the back of her jodhpurs,

Stirling Sheriff Court was told on Wednesday, December 2.

Keers, 56, was jailed for two years and three months, made subject to an extended sentence of a further two years during which he will be supervised by social workers and can be returned to jail if he offends again, and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Sheriff William Gilchrist ordered that he should be reported to Scottish Ministers with a view to placing him on the list of persons forbidden from working with children.

Sheriff Gilchrist told him: “This was conduct you engaged in over 14 years, and involved five young girls who had clearly placed their trust in you, as had their parents.

“You abused that trust, and you did so in a reprehensible fashion.”

The court heard that Keers’ actions began in 2000 and continued until August last year (2014), when one of his victims, who was 13 when he began to abuse her, but is now a woman of 25, went to the police.

Checks into youngsters he’d had contact with at a series of locations, including the Fishcross Equestrian Centre in Clackmannanshire, the Kingsbarns Equestrian Centre near Falkirk, and West Riverside Farm in the Carron Valley, led police to his other victims.

Karen Wilson, prosecuting, said Keers’ oldest victim, now a woman of 28, was targeted when she stabled her pony at a farm near Denny, Stirlingshire, where Keers, a keen horseman, helped out in the stables.

Ms Wilson, the depute fiscal, said the woman, then a girl of 13, began to notice that Keers’ hand would “slip” and brush against her bottom while they were together in the stables.

Later, she said, Keers “put his hands down the back of her jodhpurs and touched her bare bottom for 15 seconds”.

Ms Wilson said: “The girl was in shock and said nothing. The accused removed his hand and carried on as normal.

“He continued to touch her on other occasions, however, when other people were around her but they were obscured from view by the horse in the stable.”

The victim who eventually blew the whistle was targeted at two farms near Denny.

Ms Wilson said: “The girl had needed to get rid of her own horse, and he offered her one of his own.

“He became her riding instructor.

“He approached her mother to see if he could take her on treks to increase her confidence, and took her on numerous treks when she was 13.

“During the summer of 2004 he took her on a trek to a wooded area. He instructed her to get off her horse. He then approached her and put both hands on her over her clothing. She said no, but he would not stop.

“Over the coming weeks he took her on numerous other treks to the same area, and touched her through and inside her jodhpurs.

“She did not say anything at the time, because she was scared it would result in her horse being taken away.”

Keers also texted one of his victims, initially talking about horses, but then asking if she and her friends were lesbians, and “asked which one of them was wearing a strap-on”.

Another girl he was teaching was groped as he pretended to check how much space there was at the front of her saddle.

And he told a 16-year-old girl whom he assaulted by grabbing her bottom: “Everyone that’s rode with me I’ve had a feel of their arse.”

Keers was interviewed by police in October and November 2014 and “made various admissions of guilt”.

Keers, of Dalshannon View, Condorrat, North Lanarkshire, pleaded guilty to two charges of lewd and libidinous practices towards 13-year-old girls, three charges of engaging in unlawful sexual activity with girls under 16, and two charges of sexually assaulting 16-year-old girls. The offences spanned a time period from August 2000 to August 2014.

Defence solicitor Stephen Maguire said Keers had no significant previous convictions.

The lawyer added: “He recognises his conduct was reprehensible in the extreme. It represents a gross breach of trust, and I cannot explain it or rationalise it in any way.”

Sheriff Gilchrist told Keers: “You certainly require to be subject to statutory supervision, but that will be after you have served a custodial sentence, for such a sentence is inevitable and appropriate, given the gravity of these offences.”

Keers showed no emotion, but a woman, thought to be his daughter, sobbed on the public benches as he was led to the cells.

April 2016

Pervert admits grooming 12-year-old schoolgirl for sex

Mavin posted the picture above just hours after admitting the offence

A pervert has admitted grooming and having sexual activity with a 13-year-old schoolgirl.

Wayne Axel Rose mavin, 24 of Blyth appeared in court 6 at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday, 14 of April 2016 where he pleaded guilty to:

April 2016

Pervert had sex with 12-year-old girl just months after being warned by police

A Yate man, who had sex with a 12-year-old girl just months after being warned by police to stay away from young teenagers, has been jailed.

As Jack Smoothy was sentenced to 28 months behind bars he attempted to jump the dock to get to his family before having to be restrained by a security guard and the court usher.

The 22-year-old contacted the girl on Facebook before grooming her

April 2016

“Controlling and manipulative” abused two young boys and woman

A “controlling and manipulative” bully who kept a woman captive in a Great Yarmouth bedsit and abused two young boys by stubbing out cigarettes on them has been jailed for six years.

Daniel Barber, 29, also tied his female victim to a kitchen cupboard, held her in a shower, cut her with glass and punched and kicked her.

He admitted two counts of false imprisonment and three counts of causing actual bodily harm to the victim.

April 2016

Dumfries man placed on sex offenders register

Note: Victims include UK schoolgirls

April 2016

30 years for American who recruited girls into indecent images

A Martinez man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting underage girls, including 94 he recruited for online child sexual abuse images.

Prosecutors said Blake Johnston, 42, had sex with four of his victims. He pleaded guilty in December to one count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor, a 14-year-old girl whom he took from her home in Oregon to California

A day after the girl’s mother reported her missing in October 2014, police checked her phone and computer records, determined her likely whereabouts, and contacted police in Martinez, who found her in Johnston’s bed, prosecutors said.

 Officers also found a computer hard drive with 500 folders with females’ names, most of them containing images or videos of child pornography, prosecutors said.

They said investigators identified 94 girls from at least 30 states and six foreign nations whom Johnston had persuaded to create indecent images or otherwise sexually exploited online. In some cases, prosecutors said, Johnston encouraged girls to cut or choke themselves or use drugs.

At Johnston’s sentencing hearing Tuesday, prosecutors said, one of his victims, who was 13 when she first encountered him, told him, “You took away my childhood. You took me away from my family. You killed who I could have been. But I am free now.”

“Blake Johnston sexually exploited an untold number of children to satisfy his demented fantasies,” U.S. Attorney Brian Stretch said in a statement.

Defense lawyer Mark Goldrosen argued for a 15-year sentence. He said Johnston, the child of an alcoholic father, was addicted to methamphetamine when he committed his crimes, has no excuse for “the horrific nature of his conduct,” and could live as a law-abiding citizen if freed from prison in his late 50s.

But U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland imposed the 30-year sentence sought by prosecutors. White has scheduled a hearing June 28 to determine the restitution he will order Johnston to pay his victims.

April 2016

Ex-soldier jailed for abusing boys got job with sea cadets

A former British soldier has been jailed for three years for indecently assaulting two boys more than 20 years ago.

Jeffrey Price, 57, was working as a civilian instructor for the Bournemouth Sea Cadets when he committed the offences between 1991 and 1992.

On Thursday Bournemouth Crown Court heard Price secured himself a job with the sea cadets – despite being convicted of indecently assaulting a boy under the age of 16 in 1986.

April 2016

Illegal immigrant set to be deported

An illegal immigrant has been told he will be deported after smashing a little boy’s thigh bone in an ‘unbelievable act of brutality’.

Shipon Ahmed, 39, left the five-year-old in agony after shattering the strongest bone in his body by kicking or stamping on him with devastating force.

The Bangladeshi national, who was in the UK illegally, claimed the child had tripped over a toy and the boy was too terrified to tell anyone what had happened to him.

Just two weeks before he stood trial for his wicked crime, Ahmed glassed a man in the face in Tequila Nightclub in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

He was found guilty of both offences in separate trials.

Sentencing Ahmed at Bradford Crown Court, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told him: “You really are not just a man of breathtaking arrogance – but you are a very violent person.

“You will be deported, I have no doubt. You will be sent back to Bangladesh.”

A paediatric doctor said the boy had been swung by his leg, then kicked or stamped on.

Speaking about the horrific injuries, Judge Hall said: “It was an unbelievable act of brutality. His injuries were comparable to falling from a considerable height or being seriously hurt in a car crash.”

In the second attack, David Weglewski suffered massive blood loss, arterial damage and numerous lacerations after Ahmed attacked him at Tequila Nightclub in Bradford at 2am on December 5 last year.

He was taken by ambulance to the Major Trauma Ward at Leeds General Infirmary where shards of broken glass were surgically removed from his face.

The court heard that Ahmed attacked Mr Weglewski in a jealous rage after he asked his girlfriend to a party – and was then remanded in custody charged with a second Section 18 wounding.

Ahmed, of Bradford, was branded “seriously dangerous” by judge Hall and given an extended sentence of 18 years – 10 years for breaking the little boy’s femur and five years for the glass attack.

The court heard Ahmed had sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies.

Judge Durham Hall extended the licence period by three years, telling Ahmed: “You clearly are a very dangerous man.”

Ahmed had previous convictions for benefit fraud, harassment, and battery on a former partner.

April 2016

Pervert jailed after boss catches him searching for child bondage images

Bosses at a Herne Bay finance company were expecting to find words like “mortgage rates” and “investments” when they searched the internet history of one of their workers.

But what principal Stephen Walters discovered on Rory Bullock’s company computer in Mortimer Street shocked him.

Instead of fiscal terms, he found Bullock had been looking for bondage images featuring children

Financial adviser Bullock was later confronted by police officers and told them he had “always been sexually aroused by people being tied up”.

The 24-year-old, of Mortimer Street, pleaded guilty to possessing more than 100 illegal images.

Judge Adele Williams jailed him for six months, telling him: “These were sadistic poses of real children who were being exploited.”

She said the former Herne Bay High School straight-A pupil had been “a highly intelligent young man” who had now sought treatment for his problems.

“You knew what you were doing was both illegal and wrong,” she added.

Prosecutor Simon Taylor told Canterbury Crown Court how in February last year, police were contacted by Mr Walters, a manager at Oyster Mortgages Services.

“Mr Walters reported that one of his employees had been accessing indecent images of children while using the company server,” he said.

“Mr Walters also stated that he was concerned by certain keywords used by the suspect when checking his internet history on Chrome web browser.”

The following day, February 6, officers went to the company’s office and were shown a sample of the images.

Mr Taylor said: “The images depicted young boys in sadistic poses whereby their wrists or feet were tied together with rope,” he added.

The court heard how police then raided Bullock’s flat, where they discovered images of “predominantly young boys in sadistic settings”, but also girls, on his home computer.

Mr Taylor added: “There are very few images which feature adults and there is no sexual activity seen in any of the images.”

Judge Williams, together with the prosecutor and defence barrister Tanya Robinson, went into chambers to view a selection of the images on Bullock’s computer.

Now Bullock, who has been sacked from his job, will be made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, banning him from accessing the internet with a computer or phone which can delete the history.

Ms Robinson said some of the images depicted sadism

But Judge Williams said she found Bullock’s excuse for having the pictures as “rather trite” after hearing he said he searched for the fetish pictures to cope with feelings of “low self-esteem and worthlessness”

April 2016

Cwmbran man tells police, ‘I may as well be dead’ after being found with indecent images

A CWMBRAN man who said, “I may as well be dead” when police officers found indecent images of children at his home has avoided jail.

Mervyn Baker, 64, of Clos Cae Nant, appeared at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday for having photographs and videos of boys and girls.

Officers from the police high tech unit arrived at Baker’s home on March 24 and seized various computer items.

Baker told the officers he had adult images but, while still at his home, they looked on his hard drive and found the indecent images.

The photographs included 15 photos and two videos in category A – the most serious classification – as well as 16 photos and one video in class B. There were also 19 category C photos.

Police showed Baker one of the category B photographs and he said somebody had sent it to him.

The court heard how he went on to say his life was over.

Baker said: “Why did I do it, I may as well be dead.”

Baker was arrested and taken to Ystrad Mynach police station where officers said he was very apologetic.

He pleaded guilty to all three offences.

In court Judge Keith Thomas sentenced him to eight months in prison suspended for 18 months. He must also complete an internet sex offender treatment programme which is made up of 35 sessions.

Judge Thomas told him: “These are serious offences because the children in the photographs are real children who have been abused.”

The judge also ordered Baker’s hard drive to be forfeited and said he must pay £100. A five-year sexual harm prevention order was also made.

April 2016

Tamworth man handed community sentence after being found with indecent images of children

A TAMWORTH man was arrested after police found he had been sent indecent images of children by someone they were investigating.

As a result, John Jones was given a three-year community sentence by a judge at Warwick Crown Court and ordered to take part in an accredited probation programme for 60 days.

Jones (33) – who had pleaded guilty to two charges of making indecent images of children – was also ordered to register as a sex offender for five years.

Prosecutor William Douglas-Jones said that in November 2014, West Yorkshire Police found evidence of an on-line conversation between someone they were investigating and Jones.

In it Jones, of Watling Street, Grendon, expressed a wish to see images of pre-teen children – and he was sent four such images by the other man.

Three of them were classed as being category C, showing children in naked or indecent poses without any sexual activity – but one was a category A image of a child being subjected to a penetrative sex act.

The information was passed to Warwickshire Police, and when Jones was arrested his phone and computer were seized, and officers found a small number of indecent images.

There were six category C images on his computer and five on his phone, where there were also three category A images and one category B image of a child involved in non-penetrative sexual activity.

Internet searches indicated that Jones had been looking for material involving under-age girls, although when he was interviewed in December he at first denied any knowledge of the images.

Jones then said he had received one image which had been unsolicited, and although he admitted expressing an interest in girls, he claimed an image of a girl performing oral sex had also been sent to him unsolicited.

Ian Speed, defending, said: “There can be no mitigation in respect of these types of offences.

“He is 33 years of age, but not a mature 33. He has been entirely candid.

“He appeared before the magistrates unrepresented and pleaded guilty, and he has been totally open in the pre-sentence report.

“It is in the public interest that he receive lengthy supervision and assistance in the community.”

Sentencing Jones, Recorder Adrian Reynolds said: “It is pretty obvious to me you feel a deep sense of shame for what you have done.

“But your choices not to tell your parents contrast with the children whose images you have been looking for.

“They don’t have those choices. People take images of them which are paraded on the internet for ever.

“I could easily justify sending you to prison for a short period of time. Fortunately for you, this has been on a modest scale, and there has been no offending since the end of 2014.”

April 2016

Man jailed for making and distributing indecent images of children

A 50-year-old man has been jailed for two years after being convicted of making and distributing thousands of indecent images and videos of children.

Richard Cooper, of Kings Avenue, Higham Ferrers, appeared at Northampton Crown Court last Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent images and three counts of distributing indecent images.

The images related to categories A and B.

Indecent photographs of children are categorised into A, B or C, with category A covering the most serious images involving children.

Cooper will be required to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life

April 2016

Ballyeaston man admits possessing indecent images of children

A Ballyeaston man with a self-confessed “unhealthy interest in schoolgirls” has been sentenced after child porn was found on his computer equipment.

Gerard Todd, from Dickeystown, was placed on probation for three years after he admitted possessing 28 indecent images of children.

The 55-year-old’s home was searched on February 13, 2013, resulting in two laptops being seized. When the equipment was forensically examined, the images were located.

Prosecutor Simon Jenkins told Belfast Crown Court that when Todd was interviewed about the images, he admitted using the laptops to search for and view child porn.

Todd further admitted having an “unhealthy interest in schoolgirls”.

Mr Jenkins also spoke of Todd’s “relevant record” which he said was an “aggravating factor in the case”.

In 1997 Todd was charged with indecent behaviour after he parked close to a school bus and was observed with his hands down his trousers. In 2013 he was charged with the theft of a schoolgirl’s gym bag, which he stole from outside the Asda store in Ballyclare.

A defence barrister spoke of the “relatively modest” amount of images located on the laptops, and also revealed they were still images as opposed to movies with a “majority” of the images in the least serious category.

Telling Todd that “such behaviour simply cannot be tolerated”, Judge Gordon Kerr QC said that such images “can only come about because of the abuse of children … who are abused in the most serious way”.

As well as the probation, Todd has to complete the Sexual Offenders Programme as part of his conditions.

April 2016

Wrexham man admits possessing more than 13,000 indecent images

A WREXHAM man was committed to crown court for sentencing after admitting possessing more than 13,000 indecent images.

Anthony Robert John Morris, 34, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Wrexham Magistrates Court on March 23 to six counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of possessing such images and movies, and three counts of possessing extreme images and movies involving animals. Some of the offences dated back to 2007.

The case had been adjourned until Friday, when Morris appeared again in court where he was told by chair of the magistrates Wendy Jones that he would be sent to crown court for sentencing.

Justin Espie, prosecuting, said that following a referral from an anti online exploitation centre, it was found that an IP address had been used to access a peer to peer (P2P) forum which had been used to access the indecent material, some of which included children aged between two and 15 years old.

The court heard how the address was traced to Morris’ home where a warrant was executed and the defendant’s computers and associated items were seized, including a wallet containing memory cards.

Mr Espie added that Morris’ wife and child had been at home when the warrant was executed while he had been at work, but that he later handed himself in to police.

The court also heard how Morris had admitted full responsibility and had no excuses for what he’d done.

Alun Williams, defending, said that as a result of this case his client had lost everything.

Mr Williams said: “I have to accept that this case crosses the custody threshold, but I have not represented anyone for a long time who has lost so much.

“At the time he was living with his wife and child, but they have gone to Poland and it’s not clear if they’ll come back.

“He had a lynch mob after him and when he went back to see his parents, he was beaten up.”

Mr Williams added that his client was the author of his own misfortune, but that he had shown genuine remorse for his actions and had lost a great deal.

The magistrates decided that due to the ages of the children involved, the period of time the indecent material was held for and the high volume of material held, the case must be sent to crown court for sentencing.

Morris was bailed to appear at Mold Crown Court on Thursday, May 5.

April 2016

Female babysitter avoids prison after torturing children

A female babysitter has avoided a prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to a string of child abuse charges against four young children.

Danielle Gill, 21, of Wetherby, Leeds appeared in court room 7 at Leeds Crown Court to face sentencing after admitting child cruelty and child neglect charges.

The court was told that Gill sadistically tormented the four children who were aged just 1, 3, 4 & 6 years old.

The abuse included sexual, physical and mental abuse whilst she was left in charge to babysit the children.

The sexual assault charges relate to the abuse of the one-year-old child

The prosecution explained that Gill would spit and shout at the children. Punish them with cold baths and give them alcohol. 

Gill effectively walked free from court with a one year suspended sentence.

The oldest child is currently undergoing counselling as a direct result of the abuse.

In a psychiatric evaluation as part of pre-sentence reports, Gill was deemed at a significantly high risk to young children.

Gill has shown no remorse for her actions.

The case has now finally reached its conclusion after a two year process.

Despite being banned from working with children, or being in unsupervised access to children, Gill who has no children of her own uses Facebook to join local toddler and baby groups advertising as a babysitter

She was told she must register as a sex offender with immediate effect.

April 2016

Wife’s moving letter saves ex-primary school teacher from prison

A FORMER primary school teacher has admitted downloading hundreds of indecent images of children for a second time.

Gary Clement escaped jail largely thanks to a “very moving letter” submitted to Hull Crown Court by his wife.

Clement, 45, of Grangeside Avenue, north Hull, admitted one count of possessing category B indecent images and one of possessing category C indecent images.

Category A images are the most serious, with category C in the lowest threshold.

April 2016

Spalding computer salesman jailed for sex offences

A computer and laptop salesman charged with committing indecent acts against several girls aged under 16 has been jailed for five and a half years,

Geoffrey Ward, of Spring Gardens, Spalding, was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday for sex offences against four young girls between 1990 and 2006.

Ward, who ran Mr Chips computer store in Victoria Street, Spalding, was originally charged with seven counting of alleged indecent acts against five young girls in the town.

Six of the original charges alleged that Ward had committed indecent assaults, including two on one girl who was aged 11 or 12 between June 1990 and June 1992, with two more on another girl who was aged 14 between November 1991 and November 1992.

A further charge alleged sexual touching of a girl aged 13 or 14, between September 2004 and September 2006, when she was not consenting and he did not reasonably believe she was consenting.

April 2016

Victim’s sex abuser jailed three decades after offences

THE victim of a child sex abuser has spoken of her relief at hearing he has been jailed three decades later.

A jury last week found Malcolm Webb guilty of four counts of gross indecency with a child under 14 and a judge at Swindon Crown Court jailed him for two years.

For his victim, who was seven when the abuse happened between 1983 and 1985, it means she can finally put it behind her.

“It is like a massive weight has been lifted and I can actually begin to live again,” she told the Advertiser.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: “It was one of those things where I didn’t realise what had actually happened until I was 14.”

She then told her mother, but wasn’t ready to take it any further at that stage. As a teenager going through puberty and trying to get through school, she didn’t feel strong enough.

Although she reported it to police when she was in her early 20s she didn’t pursue it. Then in 2013 in the wake of huge publicity about allegations against Jimmy Savile, she tried again, this time determined to see it through.

“I felt that I would be believed, which I didn’t think was the case 10 years ago,” she said. “I also think so much has changed since the Savile revelations.”

Three years later she was in the courtroom giving evidence against Webb, 69, of Sheerwold Close, Stratton.

“The only point I regretted it was on Monday afternoon, standing in court, being told I had made it up.”

She told how the abuse had affected her ever since she realised what had happened, even though she has been through counselling.

“After it stopped I used to have panic attacks.” At the time they were put down to the fact she had a strict teacher, but she said: “Now staff and teachers would see it for what it was. In the mid 1980s there wasn’t the awareness that there is now.”

“You live with this every single day. The decisions you make in terms of relationships you can pinpoint back to this.”

She paid tribute to the detective involved in the case and the support she had received from the police. “They were very good at keeping in touch with me.”

She was not in court for the verdict on Thursday but was relieved when she was told Webb had been sent down.

“I think it is about justice. It is about getting it out there on record,” she said.

“I don’t know what would have happened had he not been found guilty. I think that would have been devastating.”