Rapist to stay in jail longer for ‘wasting judge’s time’
APAEDOPHILE pensioner who raped an underage boy, who went on to become a police officer, and abused two others has been handed extra time in jail for wasting top judges’ time.
John Stephenson Wright, 68, carefully “groomed” the three youngsters London’s Appeal Court heard.
He showered them with gifts before molesting them.
Wright, of Hornets Close, Balderstone, was jailed for 18 years at Bolton Crown Court in 2012.
Earlier this year Wright was sentenced to a further 18 months in prison for crimes he committed against Darren Kenny, now a policeman, who bravely spoke out about his childhood ordeal.
At London’s Appeal Court, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb heard Wright beg for a cut in his sentence.
But, instead, she threw out his complaints - and took the rare step of ordering him to serve an extra 42 days behind bars.
The judge said: “This was a very careful sentencing exercise, taking into account all relevant matters.
“These offences were committed against three separate vulnerable young men, following lengthy grooming.
“No one sentence was too long and the judge carefully took into account the issue of totality.
“This refused.”
Sitting with Judge John Wait and Lord Justice Hamblen, the judge said Wright had been warned in advance that his appeal was “unmeritorious”.
Wright was found guilty of three counts of rape, 21 counts of indecent assault, one count application is of indecency with a child and one count of perverting the course of justice in 2012.
During that hearing it emerged Wright paid one of his victims £2,000 to drop a complaint against him after an initial police investigation was launched in 2004.
Earlier this year Mr Kenny waived his right to anonymity to tell of the devastating impact Wright’s abuse had on his life.
Mr Kenny was abused by Wright when he worked for his parents in Rochdale where they ran a pub.
He spoke of how he told officers investigat- ing Wright that they could add another name to his list of victims, one of their own colleagues.
Mr Kenny, a married dad-of-two from Oldham, said: “It’s the effect he’s had on me, the knock-on effect on my family. My extended family.
“I’ll never know what my personality would have been like if that hadn’t happened.
“I’m quite a strong person but I’ll never know what I would have been
“He’s ripped the heart out off it.
“He’s inadvertently destroyed my family life.”