Jail for paedophile whose past caught up with him
Convicted of offences he committed in 1990s
AREMORSELESS paedophile’s past came back to haunt him as he began a prison term for ‘grotesque’ sexual abuse.
Paul Betts was handed a five year sentence for crimes committed in the 1990s.
Betts, now 50, sexually abused two girls in Stockport when was in his mid 20s.
He flattered and groomed the first victim before kissing her.
His behaviour became more sexualised and he went on to repeatedly abuse her.
The ‘naive’ girl thought she was in a ‘relationship’ with Betts, who was married, and that they had a ‘future’, the court heard. “She didn’t recognise in that time that she was being taken advantage of in a grotesque way,” Judge Sarah Johnston said.
Betts told the girl that his crimes must remain secret, and threatened her to ensure she kept quiet.
“You knew full well that what you were doing was wrong,” the judge told Betts.
The court heard that Betts’ wife became suspicious and confronted him after noticing phone billing records.
“You denied it then and you deny it now,” the judge continued.
The abuse has had a profound impact on the victims’ life, the court heard.
In a statement read on her behalf during the sentencing hearing, she told how she was initially reluctant to come forward.
She said: “I’m glad I was brave enough to do it and he was found guilty.
“I tried to put what happened to the back of my mind, but it was always there.
“He hasn’t got away with it like he thought he probably had.”
Betts sexually abused
“He hasn’t got away with it like he thought he probably had.”
the second victim on two occasions in the 1990s.
“She harboured your dark secret to protect others,” the judge said.
“Hearing the guilty verdict turned me into an emotional wreck,” the woman said.
“I felt so relieved. I no longer have to carry the shame and guilt with me.”
She said she hopes Betts will ‘reflect on his behaviour’ while serving his sentence.
Defending, Miranda Moore KC said Betts now had to live with the stigma of the offences he has been found guilty of.
She said: “He knows he has got to deal with the fact it goes with the conviction that he has now.”
Betts, previously of Hawkley Drive, Tadley,
Hampshire, was found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child.
He will serve half of his sentence in prison, an will have to sign the sex offender’s register for life.