Locations
North Sydmonton, Newbury, RG20
Description
A man in his 70s has been sentenced to a total of nine and a half years for multiple sexual offences hidden in ‘plain sight’ against an underage girl after years of grooming her.
Charles Buxton, 71, of North Sydmonton, Newbury, Berkshire, was sentenced after appearing at Norwich Crown Court yesterday (13 September 2023). He was sentenced to four years and two months for sexual activity with a child, two years for causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity to be served concurrently and five years and four months to be served consecutively. He was also issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offender Register.
Buxton previously pleaded guilty to the offences which happened between 2009 and 2011.
On Monday 25 November 2019 the victim reported to the police she had been sexually abused historically and groomed into a sexual relationship by Buxton who was in his late 50s at the time he met the victim and her family in Cromer.
The court heard that Buxton had started by buying the victim gifts in the early 2000s, such as sweets, money and cigarettes. Buxton gained her ‘trust’ through buying her things and making her think she was in love with him before carrying out sexual activity with her.
In her statement, which the victim read out in court, she describes the impact: “Years have passed, chapters of my life written, my face and body have changed, my family has grown. The wounds of my childhood still open and weep, impacting my life in so many ways. I have suffered with my mental health since the abuse started and still now, it is a constant battle. You took away my voice, you blurred the lines of love, stole my innocence and did it all hidden in plain sight from the world.”