Jailed, ex-policeman who abused 17 boys

A FORMER police sergeant and scout leader who sexually abused 17 boys – some in a police station – was jailed for 22 years yesterday.

Allan Richards, 54, used his position to groom vulnerable victims.

He raped two boys, aged between 12 and 15, and abused 15 more aged between eight and 19 at scout camps, in pools, in a park and at his home.

Richards also assaulted youngsters at Birmingham Central Police Station, where he used a force computer to ‘keep tabs’ on his victims.

He previously escaped prosecution after West Midlands Police failed to search his Birmingham home where he kept diaries detailing his sick fantasies, despite complaints from victims as early as 2000 and 2004.

A file was passed to prosecutors in 2004 but it was felt there was not enough evidence to take the case further. West Midlands Police said it ‘removed him from public contact’ that year, but he stayed with the force until retirement in 2011.

It was only in 2014 when another victim came forward that a fresh investigation was launched.

Richards was convicted of 40 sex crimes at Birmingham Crown Court, including two rapes and 20 indecent assaults, between 1976 and 2014.

A trial heard he would creep into some victims’ tents at a summer scout camp, pull down their trousers and assault them. He was suspended by the scout movement following an abuse allegation in 2004. In his capacity as a policeman, he told one boy that a girl had complained about flashing and that he needed to inspect his private parts to clear him.

West Midlands Police publicly apologised to Richards’ victims and has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.