April 2014
Cleethorpes sex offender branded a ‘monster’ jailed for nine years after abusing two children
A SEX offender has been branded a “monster” and a “Jekyll and Hyde” after being jailed for nine years for abusing two children.
The appalling ordeal he put his victims through was described as a “nightmare” and “horrendous”, it was claimed.
Frank Hargreaves, 63, of Brian Avenue, Cleethorpes, was locked up after targeting a young boy and a girl.
The docks worker, a former deep sea fisherman, was convicted by a jury at Grimsby Crown Court of seven offences.
They included an attempted serious sexual offence against the boy, four other matters of indecency with him, and two more offences of indecency with the girl.
Hargreaves was cleared by the jury of a series of other sexual offences, including raping the girl, and matters involving two other female complainants.
He denied all the offences.
Robert Underwood, mitigating, said Hargreaves had been “tormented by having to confront these allegations” and took an overdose when he was arrested.
The progress of the trial itself was delayed part way through when he took another overdose.
“That clearly demonstrated the way these matters were affecting him,” said Mr Underwood.
He was given an indefinite sexual offences prevention order and must register as a sex offender indefinitely.
Loud cheers and clapping broke out in the packed public gallery after Hargreaves was jailed.
Insults were repeatedly hurled at him during tense courtroom scenes and there were shouts of “pervert”, “brilliant” and “fantastic”.
After the hearing, one of the supporters of the victims said: “He was a Jekyll and Hyde. He’s a monster.
“I still can’t believe that he thinks he’s innocent, blaming it on everybody but himself.”
Another woman said: “We are so pleased with the sentence. It’s amazing but we wanted more. We were hoping for more but, at the end of the day, we are all right with nine years.”
Another supporter of the victims said: “I am quite pleased. I am glad the sentence isn’t something like three or four years.”
Another woman said: “It has been hard for everyone coping with it all. I have been having nightmares. It has been horrendous.
“It’s played on all our minds. That’s why we are all so relieved. It was such a shock.”
The officer in the case, temporary Detective Sergeant Jason Nutting, of the public protection unit, said he hoped the victims could use the prison sentence as a starting point to put the nightmares of the case behind them.
He was glad that the jury convicted Hargreaves of the “serious sexual offending against children” that he committed.
He thanked the complainants and witnesses who came forward and “showed great strength” in helping the case come to trial.
“I realise that this is not the end for those directly or indirectly involved in this case,” he added.
“The harm that has been perpetrated against them cannot be undone so easily, nor can the stress from having been made to give evidence in such a matter.”
