November 2011

Victim of abuse ‘disgusted’ at her attacker’s sentence

A VICTIM of sexual abuse has spoken of her “disgust” after her St Austell abuser was jailed for just four and a half years.

Alan Astle, 65, of Genville Meadows, Nanpean, sexually abused three young girls in the 1960s and another one almost 20 years later.

He pleaded guilty on the day he had been due to stand trial at Birmingham Crown Court to seven charges of indecent assault.

Astle, who committed the offences when he was living in the Billesley area of Birmingham, had already admitted two similar offences against one of the girls.

And at Warwick Crown Court, where the judge who heard the case is now sitting, Astle was jailed for three and a half years for the offences in the 1980s – consecutive to 12 months for the earlier offences. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for life and disqualified from doing paid or unpaid work with children.

One of his victims, who remains anonymous for life, said she is outraged by the sentencing.

“He has left me with scars that I cannot even begin to describe,” she said.

“I have had to sit through investigations which have taken two years and revisit all those horrific memories for what feels like nothing.

“The whole thing has just ruined my life. It has put a great big dirty cloud above it.

“I am lucky to have a great husband and two fantastic sons but the memories affect me on a daily basis.

“I find it difficult to make any connection with people, I suffer with depression, I have agoraphobia and suffer with panic attacks. I have suffered my whole life and I will probably continue to do so.”

She said she was highlighting her traumatic story because she hopes it will encourage any other potential victims to come forward.

“One of my main concerns is that there could be other victims out there,” she said.

“They may not want to come forward but if they read this they may not feel so isolated.”

Judge Robert Orme told Astle, who sat with his arms defiantly folded: “You pleaded guilty to a number of counts of indecent assault covering a lengthy span of time.”

The court had heard that between 1963 and 1967, when Astle was aged 17 to 20, he carried out “serious indecent acts” against three girls.

Prosecutor Raj Punia said Astle’s first victim was a seven-year-old for whom he babysat – and when her parents were out he went into her bedroom, and sexually assaulted her.

Astle also went to the home of a nine-year-old where he pushed her while she was on a swing in the back garden.

But he then stopped the swing and carried out a sexual assault – and similar assaults took place on other occasions.

The third victim in the 1960s was also aged 7 when her parents took her when they visited Astle’s parents’ home.

When she went upstairs to the toilet Astle called her into his bedroom and committed a sexual assault. He told his victim: “Don’t struggle; you’ll like this.”

He threatened to kill her if she told anyone what he had done, and similar incidents took place on other visits.

But when she told her mother Astle had been doing “rude things” to her, she was told she “ought to be careful about saying things like that”.

So she kept quiet, as did his other victims in the 1960s, until after another girl who Astle sexually abused finally went to the police last year.

When he was first arrested Astle replied “no comment” to all questions put to him, and later he denied any such sexual contact had taken place, added Miss Punia.

Jailing Astle, Judge Orme said his last victim, now in her forties, was “still living with the memory” of what he did to her.

The Judge added: “Fortunately it does not appear from their statements that your conduct towards those three young girls has had anything like the effect your conduct towards (the girl in the 1980s) has had.”