Lester Bell 73

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A top judge refused to give details of a serial sex offender’s vile abuse of two young girls as it was ‘clear’ he would get ‘sexual excitement’ recounting his shocking crimes.

A court heard how Lester Bell, 70 from Reading, would likely serve the rest of his life in jail after he was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years behind bars for the non-recent sexual abuse of the two survivors.

One of the girls was just six years old when Bell’s abuse started and his depraved actions included rape and sexual assault.

He filmed his abuse of the two girls and a jury was shown these images during a summer trial, at the end of which he was found guilty of 17 offences.

In his sentencing at Reading Crown Court, the prosecution revealed few details about the extent of Bell’s abuse and His Honour Judge Paul Dugdale followed suit after defence counsel Nadia Shabat conceded her client would likely “serve the rest of his life in a custodial sentence.”

The judge said: “You are a man who has not been in trouble before. I take into account your age and you are not in good health.

“I watched you carefully during the trial. I watched you give evidence.

“At the start of the trial I took the view that I could deal with you because you would not be an ongoing risk but as I watched you during the trial my opinion changed completely.

“You spent the trial going into great detail about specific aspects of your offending you simply did not need to give in order to put across your case.

“You did not plead guilty and you made a jury see things no jury should have to see.

“I thought about why you were going into all this detail and why you intended for these videos to be shown.

“The reason is this: It is clear even now in the court room when you were being tried for these offences, you were getting sexual excitement from this evidence.

“That is why I am not going into detail about these offences because I am not going to give you the pleasure of going into this again.

“You are unable to accept the seriousness of these actions. To accept the devastation you have caused these two young girls. And even now you get sexual excitement from the memory of what you did.

“You took away their childhoods. You left them irreparably scarred going into the rest of their lives. You gave them memories of things that will haunt them on a daily basis.

“You did that for a pathetic moment of sexual excitement for yourself.

“It is clear to me that whatever goes on in your mind that made you behave in that way is still very active.”

Labelling him as an “ongoing risk”, Judge Dugdale handed Bell a 30-year prison sentence, of which he will serve a minimum of 16 years before he is eligible for release.

The sentence was based on a conviction for five counts of assault of a child aged under 13 by penetration, two counts of rape of a child under 13, three counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, one count of attempted rape, two counts of causing or inciting a child aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of making category A indecent images of children, one count of making category B indecent images of children, and one count of making category C indecent images of children.

He will remain on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life and an order was made for his devices and the images he created to be destroyed.

Bell appeared for his sentencing at Reading Crown Court on Friday, October 1 via video link from HMP Bullingdon.

After he was sent down, Judge Dugdale addressed the girls who survived Bell’s abuse in the public gallery.

He told them: “It is a big thing to come and give evidence [at a trial]. What you did was extremely brave.

“There is no reason he should stop you from living your life. That is the only way forward. You put it behind you.”