Locations
Heatherslade Road, Southgate, Swansea, SA3
Description
A pensioner who was a respected member of the local community sexually abused a young girl and downloaded vile images, a court has heard.
Paul Davis groomed his victim with gifts of sweets and subjected her to sexual assaults. The 74-year-old also masturbated in front of a child at Swansea's main leisure centre.
When the offending was reported to police and officers checked his phone and other devices they found more than 1,200 child abuse images - some featuring girls as young as four - along with a haul of photographs showing bestiality.
Sending Davis to prison, a judge told him while he was a man of "standing and status" in the local community, his family, friends and colleagues could not possibly of conceived of what he was really like.
Nicola Powell, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that the offending came to light when the primary school-aged girl made disclosures to her parents about "embarrassing" things Davis had done to her. She said Davis touched her under and over her underwear, often giving her sweets as he did so. Police were contacted and an investigation launched, and officers then learned of an incident in Swansea 's LC leisure centre where the defendant had masturbated in the presence of a child while "smiling" at her.
The court heard that as part of their investigation officers seized and examined Davis' electronic devices and found more than 1,250 indecent images including 208 films and photographs classed as Category A showing the most extreme kinds of sexual abuse of children as young as four. Police also found 56 prohibited images - typically cartoon-type images showing sexual abuse - and 173 extreme pornographic images including photos of women having sex with horses and dogs.
The mother of the girl the pensioner sexually assaulted read a statement to the court in which she described the impact the abuse had on her daughter. She said she questioned her ability as a mother as she had not spotted what was happening to her child but said she was "in awe of my little daughter" for having the strength to report it.
Judge Paul Thomas QC told the woman that paedophiles such as Davis were devious individuals and she not should reproach herself for a moment, adding: "Tell your daughter I think she is very brave."
Davis, formerly of Upper Killay in Swansea but now of Heatherslade Road, Southgate, Gower, had previously pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child under 13, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, possession of indecent images of Categories A, B and C, possession of prohibited images, and possession of extreme pornographic images when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
Jon Anders, for Davis, said that before the offending the defendant had led an "industrious, hard-working, and decent life". He said since his arrest Davis has referred himself to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity which works to prevent child sexual abuse.
Judge Thomas said Davis had groomed his young victim with gifts of sweets, something he described as "classic paedophile behaviour".
He told the defendant he was a "committed paedophile" adding: "In the community you are a man of standing and status but you were living a lie. Your family, friends and work colleagues could not possibly have conceived of the man you really were."
The judge said he had read the letter which Davis had written to him, and it showed the defendant does not properly understand or accept the harm he has caused, and "is a man who is self-pitying rather than remorseful".
With discounts for his guilty pleas Davis was sentenced to a total of four years and nine months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order to control his access to young girls for the same length of time.