January 2001
FORMER SALVATION ARMY BAND MEMBER JAILED FOR SEX ASSAULTS
A FORMER Salvation Army band member broke down in tears as he relived the years he spent sexually abusing vulnerable young boys.
Ernest Hinsley Platt, 66, was jailed for 14 months after he admitted systematically abusing a child he befriended between 1971 and 1974.
At the Court of General Gaol Delivery on Wednesday he also admitted abusing another boy over a five-year period between 1976-81. The dates cover the entire period he lived in the Island.
The matters only came to light last year and Platt was arrested in Cornwall by Manx police.
The boys were both aged over 11.
In relation to the first victim, Deemster Kerruish said: The boy was vulnerable and had a disturbed background.
You seized upon his vulnerability and corrupted him. He didn t like what was happening to him.
Platt admitted two counts of indecent assault and two of procuring an act of gross indecency on the boy. He asked for two further indecent assaults on the second boy, committed between 1976-81, to be taken into consideration.
Advocate Dawn Jones said Platt had been abused as a child during his time in a children s home, an act he then inflicted on others.
Advocate Michelle Norman, prosecuting, said both Platt and the first victim were members of the Salvation Army band.
The abuse began when Platt taught the boy to play a musical instrument. Platt would pull his and the boy s trousers down and indecently assault him. Platt admitted this happened on about six occasions.
The court heard how the boy finally snapped and shot an air rifle through a window at Platt s home.
When questioned by police Platt said that at the time he thought the acts were mutual but he now felt awful about them and knew the boy hated it most of the time.
Miss Norman said Platt met his second victim through the Salvation Army band.
Platt invited the boy to watch pornographic films at his home and it was during these visits that Platt indecently assaulted him.
Advocate Dawn Jones said Platt s immediate admissions of guilt were important.
She said: It would have been extremely difficult for the police to have proved this matter.
The offences were committed 25 years ago and the chances of finding corroborative evidence may have been impossible.
She said the court should also take into account Platt s change of lifestyle.
Since his last conviction in 1985 for theft she said he has lived a hard-working and industrious life in Cornwall.
His life in Cornwall is gone, Mrs Jones said.
He has lost his house and his belongings but he didn t shy away from anything.
She also said sentencing should take into account the fact that Platt was not at the centre of the original police inquiry.
She said his name was only mentioned in passing which led to further investigations.
Platt sobbed in the dock as the evidence emerged.
Deemster Kerruish said he was substantially reducing the sentence, which could have been 10 years, because of the mitigating circumstances outlined.
Platt was given 14 months in jail for each indecent assault offence and 10 months for each offence of procuring an act of gross indecency. All the sentences are to run concurrently.
