September 2005
Pervert jailed for five years
A MAN convicted of carrying out sex offences in Burnley has been jailed for five years.
Andrew Harker was found guilty of molesting a nine-year-old girl and a woman.
He had claimed to a jury that he was innocent and the victim of a “venomous campaign”.
Harker (39), formerly of Ribchester Avenue, Burnley, and now of Grange Crescent, Riddlesden, Keighley, had denied two charges of sexual assault, but was found guilty after a trial.
At his Preston Crown Court sentencing hearing a judge directed that he be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life, be banned from working with children without limit of time and barred from having any unsupervised contact with children under 16.
The offences dated back to August last year when the defendant was living in Ribchester Avenue.
He suggested the girl had dreamt the whole incident up and may have been influenced by others talking of him in unflattering terms and allowed herself to be persuaded by others that she had suffered a sexual assault.
The defendant, who had no previous convictions, had been convicted following a retrial. At the original trial, a jury was unable to agree on two charges, but found him not guilty of two charges of indecent assault.
His barrister, Mr Tim Ashmole, told the court that the defendant continued in his denials. A custodial sentence would have a knock-on effect for his family.
When the allegations were first made against him, Harker was, in his own words, “totally gobsmacked”.
“He finds himself in front of this court, being sentenced for something he maintains he simply didn’t do,” said Mr Ashmole.
“He feels, I have to say, let down by the legal system. He says that since the allegations, he has had to move away from his house, start a new job and effectively try to start a new life. His family and friends have stuck by him throughout all this because, he says ‘they know me’.
“He says he hopes other people don’t find themselves in the same situation as him.”
Judge Christopher Cornwall passed a total sentence of five years prison, with two years extended licence.
He said very considerable harm had been caused to the young girl. He told the defendant “What the consequences of your behaviour will be for her in the long term, no-one can predict.”
Harker’s case remained that he was the victim of a venomous campaign with people conspiring to pervert the course of justice, by making allegations they knew to be untrue, said the judge.
The defendant had an excellent work record and was of previous good character and a good father.
“I bear in mind that custody will be an extremely difficult experience,” said the judge.
