Locations
Ewood, Bardsley, Oldham, Greater Manchester, OL8
Description
A convicted sex offender has had his jail term increased after another victim came forward. Damien Riley, of Ewood, Oldham, was convicted of 16 incidents of inappropriate sexual activity relating to four young boys in Oldham in the 1980s - when he was a teenager - by a jury in 2021.
The former carer was jailed for 10 years. Sentencing him at the time, Judge Angela Nield said: "The victims of your offending behaviour were four in number - they were children, children who all lived on the same estate in very different times to now, when it was commonplace for groups of children to play together on the street.
"When those children were believed, usually with good cause, to be safe by their parents, safety in numbers; sadly in this case that was far from the truth.
"Each of them was undoubtedly damaged by that behaviour and by their premature and inappropriate exposure to sexual experiences.
"All these young men were part and parcel of a group of children who should have been enjoying the delights of playing with their friends and the games that were enjoyed in the streets of Oldham, but there was a very much darker undercurrent on that street."
Following the sentencing in 2021, another victim who lived in the area at the same time, has come forward.
Amy Weir, prosecuting, said Riley, who was a teenager at the time, performed a sex act on the boy. Mitigating, Michael Johnson said his client was a child at the time, and the maximum sentence for such offences which were committed in the 1980s was 12 months imprisonment.
Jailing him for a further year, Judge Nield said: “In 2021 and following a trial in respect of four separate complainants who alleged similar types of behaviour. I sentenced you to 10 years imprisonment.
“This complainant did not come forward until much later and you chose to have a trial, which is your right. He had to give evidence about something which was very distressing to him.
“It was open to you to acknowledge your guilt and potentially to come clean and avoid the situation you have now found yourself in.”
Riley was sentenced to 12 months, to be served consecutively to his current sentence, for indecent assault on a child.