Latest Offenders York

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A rapist who had evaded justice for more than 25 years was finally jailed yesterday after a local newspaper reporter uncovered vital evidence to crack the case.

Financial adviser Kevin Moloney, 44, went on trial last year for the sickening rape of a 69-year-old woman in her home in 1985.

He had been arrested after new DNA evidence came to light from a ‘cold case’ review by police, but he walked free when the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict.

The victim died nine years ago and Moloney, a divorced father-of-two who was 19 at the time, claimed she consented to sex.

But Nicky Harley, a reporter with the Hull Daily Mail, investigated the case and achieved what the prosecution had failed to do by exposing the defendant’s story as a lie.

Humberside Police had lost vital crime scene photographs and when Mrs Harley tracked down the retired superintendent who originally led the inquiry she discovered he had kept copies of his own.

A photograph of the smashed back door supported the victim’s original account that he had forced his way inside. Moloney claimed the elderly widow consented to sex on the sofa after they had a drink together.

However, a picture of newspapers and rubbish piled up on the sofa indicated the reclusive victim’s version that she was raped in the hallway was more believable.
Moloney was due to have a retrial at Hull Crown Court, but faced with the additional evidence he pleaded guilty to rape and was jailed for four years.

Mrs Harley was praised by the judge and given the High Sheriff’s Award in recognition of her vital role in the case.

Judge Michael Mettyear said he was ‘quite sure’ that the journalist’s conscientious work in uncovering fresh evidence led to the defendant pleading guilty. He said :’He knew he had nowhere else to turn.’

Adding: ’I praise her without criticism of the officers investigating the offence. They were not to know the superintendent had evidence that could help the case.’

Mother-of-two Mrs Harley, 32, was in court and cried when she heard she was being honoured with an award. She said later: 'Every journalist hopes to make a difference in the work they do and I am pleased I was able to do that.’

Commenting on finding the vital photos, she said: 'I knew the jury were asking if there were any pictures of the scene and they were told that there weren't because they had been destroyed over time.'

She arranged to interview retired Detective Superintendent Barry Lilley for a background article about the case and was astonished with the results.

‘I told him about the situation with photographs and said he should have copies of his own. He told me he needed to check in his loft and then he called me back a couple of hours later to tell me he’d found them.’

Mr Lilley said he routinely kept his own copies of crime scene photos. 

He said: 'I'm pleased these photos have now formed the backbone of the prosecution evidence, which finally brought a guilty plea to this despicable, serious crime.'

After escaping justice as a teenager the rapist went on to marry and have a family. He was tracked down when DNA taken for a minor cannabis offence in 2009 was matched to scientific evidence from the rape by a ‘cold case’ review team.

Commenting on the case, the head of Humberside’s Major Incident Team, Detective Superintendent Dena Fleming, said it was a ‘tragedy’ the victim had died not knowing her attacker would be brought to justice, adding: 'Her family will hopefully take some comfort from the fact that justice has finally been done. My sympathy and that of my team goes out to them.'

DS Fleming promised to continue to investigate other unsolved sex attacks, but made no mention of the reporter’s role in cracking the case in her statement.

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A CHURCH caretaker who abused children as young as seven has been jailed - more than 25 years after his crimes.

Over a 16-year-period, Michael Adamson molested four girls in the congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - including two in the church's boiler room.

He abused a third in her home when he came around to tune her piano while she was off school ill.

When he stopped, he "gave her a look as if to say Don't say anything or you are dead'," said prosecutor Dr Tina Dempster.

York Crown Court also heard how elders at the church knew of Adamson's crimes as long ago as 1998 and allowed him to continue worshipping there.

Adamson, of Thornwood Covert, off Foxwood Lane, York, who also played the church organ, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault committed between 1966 and 1982. Judge Stephen Ashurst told Adamson: "You have enjoyed your liberty and you have held on to your position of apparent respectability in the wider community and in your religious community," Adamson now faces excommunication from the church.

Child abuser is put behind bars

A PAEDOPHILE jailed for sexually attacking youngsters at his church now faces excommunication, York Crown Court heard.

Elders of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints knew about organist and caretaker Michael John Adamson's crimes a decade ago and allowed him to continue worshipping there after a three-week suspension, said Tina Dempster, prosecuting.

He had abused four girls aged seven to 15 during a 16 year period, including molesting two of them in the boiler-room of the church's Acomb chapel. All four belonged to families in its congregation.

He abused a third when he visited her home to tune the piano and she was off school with illness. When he stopped he "gave her a look as if to say Don't say anything or you are dead'," said Dr Dempster.

But though all four kept silent for years, they finally spoke out and Adamson admitted his crimes 26 years after they stopped.

His barrister, Geraldine Kelly, said he will now appear before a church court where "there is every likelihood he will be excommunicated".

"He looks to his family and the church for support and understanding; he looks to his victims for forgiveness," she said.

Calling him a hypocrite, the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, jailed Adamson, 63, of Thornwood Covert, off Foxwood Lane, for six years.

"You have enjoyed your liberty and you have held onto your position of apparent respectability in the wider community and in your religious community," he said. He added that Adamson had betrayed the trust of the girls' parents, who were church members, and had a lasting effect on all four girls, now women.

Adamson pleaded guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault committed between 1966 and 1982.

In addition to the jail term, the judge restricted his activities for the rest of his life under a sexual offences prevention order, banned him from ever working with children again and put him on the sex offenders' register for life.

Speaking of the suspension in 1998, Miss Kelly said: "Coming before the church and being dealt with by the church elders at that stage of his life was a real punishment. It was shame and disgrace."

The church was a major part of his life, and he had had to prove himself with other church members after the suspension, a process that took three to four years. After police became involved earlier this year, he was again regularly interviewed by church members.

He had not committed any crimes in the last 26 years and had spared his victims the ordeal of giving evidence by pleading guilty.