Justice catches up with Leeds paedophile who sexually assaulted six-year-old girl almost 40 years ago
A woman abused almost 40 years ago said she could “not remain quiet any further” as her perpetrator was jailed today.
Sixty-year-old paedophile Richard Brown was found guilty after a trial of two counts of sexual assault dating as far back as 1985.
The victim was aged between six and nine when the abuse took place, the court heard.
In a victim impact statement written by the woman, read to Leeds Crown Court by prosecutor Benjamin Bell, he said: “She has felt shame ever since. She has carried it for over 30 years.
“She did not want her family to find out, but she could not remain quiet any further.
“She had to face up to the abuse and told them, but struggled to get the words out of her mouth.
“Not a day goes by when she does not relive the trauma.”
The trial heard that Brown was in his early 20s and was a university student at the time.
He would bounce the naked girl up and down while rubbing his penis against her.
The victim came forward in 2022 to disclose the abuse after hearing Brown was being investigated by the police on suspicion of possession of indecent images. The images investigation was not able to progress to charge.
Brown, of Kelmscott Avenue, Manston, was jailed for 28 months. He was put on the sex offender register for 10 years and given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
Judge Robin Mairs told him: “She [the victim] lived with this and internalised it. Facing it and disclosing it has brought fresh challenges.”
He said it was an “extremely difficult” sentencing exercise, given that the sentences were more relaxed in the 1980s, to which he had to adhere.
He told him: “This was not a solitary,opportunistic offence. It was an offence that was repeated.
“It’s so serious that only immediate custody is justified.”