Pensioner jailed for abusing girls

A PENSIONER has been jailed for 17 years for a campaign of sexual abuse against three young girls.

The repeated attacks carried out by Christopher Tatton spanned some two decades, with his youngest victims aged just five.

The 72-year-old denied the abuse ever took place, forcing the victims to give evidence and be cross-examined during two trials at Swansea Crown Court.

The jury could not reach verdicts in the first trial in September last year, but last month Tatton was convicted of 23 counts of indecent assault at retrial, and returned to the dock yesterday for sentencing.

Sending him to prison, a judge told the pensioner he had put his “twisted sexual urges” before the rights of the girls to have normal childhoods.

The sexual abuse took place during the 1980s and ‘90s, and involved three young girls. However, it wasn’t reported to the police for two decades.

One woman said her childhood experiences had left her suffering with anxiety, which became so bad she eventually had to drop out of university. She said the abuse affected her relationships with men, and impacted on her work-life balance and her sleep.

Judge Paul Thomas QC told Tatton that for 20 years he had sexually abused very young girls and had shown them no compassion. He said: “You put your twisted sexual urges before their right to grow up in a proper way. You ruined their childhood and their adulthood to a large extent.”

Tatton was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison.

He will be on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.