August 2013
‘RUTHLESS PAEDOPHILE’ GUILTY OF SEX CRIMES SPANNING NEARLY 30 YEARS
A pervert labelled a “ruthless paedophile” has been found guilty of sex crimes spanning nearly 30 years.
Arthur John Cook, 66, was convicted of abusing two children – one in the 1970s and another over more than 10 years up to 2005 – and now faces a lengthy spell behind bars.
Cook, of Greengarth, Upperby, Carlisle, was found guilty by a jury of nine charges following a trial at the city’s crown court.
He was found not guilty of a further seven offences, clearing him in the process of allegations he abused another person, a girl.
But as well as the charges he was convicted of during his trial, Cook will also be sentenced for 18 other crimes he admitted before it even got underway.
The overweight and balding sex offender, who clutched a walking stick as he sat in the dock throughout his trial, pleaded guilty to 18 counts of making indecent photographs of a child.
Following his arrest last year, police had found thousands of child porn images on his computer.
Officers seized his computer and memory sticks, which were found to have 2,982 indecent images of children on them.
He was then re-arrested at home for possession of these images and police seized another computer and more memory devices.
A search revealed another 456 indecent images of children.
The jury were also told during the trial that Cook’s record of sex offences stretched back to 1970, when he was 23.
Records show that he was convicted of encouraging two boys to go in a car and perform a sex act on him between July and September 1970.
A third conviction of indecent assault involved a boy on November 8 of the same year.
The trial judge, Paul Batty QC, described Cook’s crimes as “serious” as the trial came to its conclusion.
He told Cook: “A custodial sentence of some length is inevitable.”
Judge Batty added Cook would have to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register. He will be sentenced tomorrow.
The court heard that one of his victims had approached police in May 2012 and said he had been sexually abused as a child by Cook.
This happened between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s.
After this a woman went to police and said she too had been abused as a child. Cook was cleared of the charges relating to her.
Another man later came forward and said he had been abused by Cook as a child in the mid-1970s.
Cook was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault on one boy between January 1976 and January 1977.
In relation to another boy, he was found guilty of two charges of indecency with a child, three counts of indecent assault, one charge of sexual activity with a child and one charge of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
He was cleared of three charges of indecency with a child and one charge of sexual activity with a child in relation to this boy.
These charges covered a period between November 1994 and November 2005.
Cook was found not guilty of three counts of indecent assault on a girl between April 1988 and April 1995.
Cook had denied all the allegations. The case was adjourned until tomorrow and he was remanded in custody.
