Locations
Mucklougher, Leitrim, Ireland
Description
A child molester left a girl "broken" after carrying out horrific sex offences in the 1970s.
Kevin Howard preyed on three children in the Wirral over a number of years and forced two to perform sex acts on him, having attempted to force a third to.
The now 69-year-old left one child "broken" after repeatedly abusing her.
He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court to be sentenced for a catalogue of sex offences.
Judge Denis Watson, QC, said how Howard had tried to put his hand down the trousers of Child A and made Child B perform a sex act on him.
His worst offences took place against Child C.
The judge said he had "no hesitation" in categorising the harm to that victim as "severe".
Trevor Parry-Jones, prosecuting, read a statement from Child A in which she said: "I was destroyed by the abuse I suffered by Kevin Howard.
"I wonder how my life might have been without this."
She said: "There was no support, no one to talk to."
Child C said she takes antidepressants which she has been "on and off" all her life.
She added: "I feel the abuse I suffered and psychological effects prevented me from being a better mother."
She said Howard "has been allowed to live his life over the years that have passed while I have tried to deal with the consequences as best I could".
Howard was convicted, after a trial, of 18 counts of sexual offences against the three children, which were made up of two counts of gross indecency with a child and 16 counts of indecent assault on a girl.
Fiona McNeill, defending, asked the judge to consider his lack of previous convictions.
She said Howard, of Mucklougher, Leitrim in Ireland, had never tried to deter his victims when they came forward.
Ms McNeill said he was "only a young man" at the time of the offences and explained he was now receiving treatment for a number of health problems.
The judge said: "You took advantage of the fact that those were children and they were just too young to be able to complain about the graphic and horrendous acts you carried out."
Howard was jailed for 17 years with an additional three years on licence.
He must also sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.