Man, 70, who abused children jailed years after original crimes

APAEDOPHILE has been jailed years after his victims, who he subjected to horrific abuse, bravely came forward and police forces united to bring him to justice.

Simon Porritt’s first victim, a Newcastle schoolgirl, was abused in the 1980s before he moved away to south Wales and began using a different name.

It was in Wales that the 70-year-old abused his second victim in the 1990s.

Years later, Porritt was recently arrested by Gloucestershire Constabulary while living in Tewkesbury.

He denied his guilt but last month at Cardiff Crown Court a jury found him guilty of three counts of gross indecency with a child and five counts of indecent assault of a female under 16, Wales Online reports.

Earlier this month he was back at the court where he was jailed for nine years and handed a sexual harm prevention order.

Northumbria Police discovered Porritt had slipped up and registered a car in his own name to an address in Tewkesbury.his victim from Newcastle came forward as an adult in 2000 to report the abuse and a manhunt was launched to find Porritt. However he had already unofficially started going by a different name and the search went cold until a breakthrough in 2017.

This is when officers discovered he had been registering everything under his new partner’s name or using her second name - hence avoiding detection.

Northumbria Police detective Jemma Day led the investigation resulting in officers from Gloucestershire Constabulary arresting Porritt on suspicion of gross indecency with a child.

In the meantime his second victim from his time living in south Wales had come forward and the link was made.

Det Day praised the bravery of the victims for helping bring Porritt to justice. She said: “First and foremost I want to commend the bravery of the victims, who were children when this abuse took place.

“While nothing can ever take away what has happened I hope the conviction and sentence of Simon Porritt will provide them with some comfort.

“I also hope it will encourage other victims of historic sexual assaults to come forward. We are here for you, we will listen, and we will support you - and we will do whatever we can to help ensure you see justice.”

Cardiff -based detective sergeant Darryl Griffiths from South Wales Police said: “This has been a protracted investigation made more complex by the historic nature of the offences and the challenge of investigations taking place at opposite ends of the UK. “But we worked closely with police colleagues from Gloucester and Northumbria and this has resulted in the conviction and custodial sentence.

“Both victims have displayed great fortitude and resilience in reporting these offences.”

An NSPCC Cymru spokesman said: “Despite Porritt’s cynical attempts to avoid justice the bravery of his victims and determined work of police forces mean he is now facing almost a decade in prison. The courage of the women who reported his unforgivable actions cannot be understated and this sentence shows that no matter when abuse happened offenders like Porritt can still face the justice they deserve and we would encourage anyone who has experienced abuse to speak up and seek support.”