September 2017

‘Calculating predator’ church youth leader jailed for raping schoolboy

A Judge has called a former church youth leader a “calculating” sexual predator as he jailed him for 10 years after being found guilty of raping a schoolboy.

Dean Madavan, aged 50, denied the charges of rape and attempted rape during trial, saying he was never even alone with the child who made allegations about him as an adult about 15 years later.

He argued in court that the victim was merely looking for a share of compensation paid out to his other victims

Madavan, an ex-manager at Roborough Tesco, was jailed for seven years in November 2010 after he admitted on the first day of his trial to 13 counts of indecent assault against eight boys and young men.

He also admitted seven counts of making indecent images of children.

At the time of his sentencing in November 2010 the presiding judge allowed charges of attempted rape and two of indecent assault on three boys to lie on file.

The former property landlord, who was released in July 2013, told the jury of eight women and four men that he had to pay out between £160,000 and £180,000 in compensation to his victims.

However, he told the latest hearing the men had lied or exaggerated what he had done to them.

He repeatedly distanced himself from his offences, claiming “I know how I appear to be a nasty piece of work. I know I have made a lot of mistakes. It is not as described as in the statements”.

When asked if he had “strong sexual urges” towards boys under 16 he replied “I would not call them strong sexual urges. I did fall into temptation and made bad decisions”.

When prosecutor Nigel Wraith told him: “You were for about 10 years a sexual predator”, Madavan replied: “That is not how I saw myself at the time. Yes, I could have been seen that way in hindsight”.

Madavan, who also played keyboard in several churches, was found guilty by unanimous verdict of both the rape of the schoolboy at his former home in Northumberland Terrace in West Hoe sometime between 2000 and 2002.

He was also found guilty by unanimous verdict of attempting to rape the boy in the back of his Audi A6 after he pulled over into a layby on the A38.

In mitigation, his advocate David Pinnell said Madavan – who also went by the name Williams after his release from prison – said his client had been supervised while living in South Wales and had given probation “no active concerns”, saying his period of offending was “some distance in time behind him”.

He noted how his client was legally aided and had since sold all his properties to pay compensation to his victims.

As such, he now lived in rented accommodation with “no means to speak of”, and worked as a property manager allowing him a reduced rent.

In sentencing Recorder Martin Meeke QC noted how Madavan had two previous conviction – the first in 1991 when he was found guilty of two offences of indecent assault on boys aged under 14. At that time the Tavistock justices handed him a conditional discharge.

The 2010 conviction saw him jailed for a total of seven years after he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of indecent assault.

He noted how Madavan also pleaded guilty at that hearing to 10 offences of making indecent images of children.

Recorder Meeke said he read the victim impact statement and told Madavan that his victim had suffered “severe psychological harm as a result of your offending”, noting how the boy was “particularly vulnerable”.

Recorder Meeke passed a sentence of 10 years for the rape and seven years – to be served concurrently – for the attempted rape.

He said Madavan would had an additional year added to his licence and would serve half in custody before going before a parole board.

He also made Madavan subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning him from working with, being in same property or being in unsupervised contact with boys aged under 16.

He was also ordered to be on the Sexual Offences Register for life.

Madavan remained impassive while in the dock and as he was led away in cuffs he nodded once to an individual in the public gallery.

November 2010

Seven years for Sex monster

A FORMER church youth club worker has been jailed for seven years after admitting a string of sex attacks on boys and young men.

Predatory paedophile Dean Madavan, aged 44, whose last address was Campbell Drive, Cardiff  targeted young boys while working at the Ford Baptist church youth club in Plymouth between 1992 and 2003.

On the first day of his trial he entered a plea of guilty to 13 counts of indecent assault against eight boys and young men.

He also admitted seven counts of making indecent images of children, ranging from category one to category four.

Judge Francis Gilbert QC allowed charges of attempted rape and two of indecent assault on three boys to lie on file.

Madavan sat impassive throughout the hearing at Plymouth Crown Court, while a number of his victims and their families sat in the public gallery.

The court heard how Madavan had received a three-year conditional discharge for similar offences in December 1991, but returned to the church to continue his sick crimes within months.

Madavan would befriend the boys, gained their parents’ trust and have his victims sleep-over at his address. There he would ply them with alcohol before sexually abusing them.

Prosecutor Malcolm Galloway said the crimes had had a “dramatic effect” on each victim.

Judge Gilbert described Madavan as a “liar” who had caused his victims “anguish”.

He sentenced Madavan to seven years – minus 302 days spent in custody – with an extended three-year licence, meaning he will remain on licence until 2020.

He was ordered to pay £8,099 court costs, placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and be subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years.

After the sentence, lead investigator Detective Constable Roy Linden said the families were “devastated” at the sentence with some claiming it amounted to just a few months for each victim.

“Some [victims] have said they now feel there was little point in coming forward,” he said.

A spokesman for Ford Baptist church said Madavan was a member of the church until 2002.

The spokesman said: “He always worked as a member of a group and was not, as far as we are aware, left in sole charge.”

The Baptist Church said it had been working nationally to “improve the arrangements for the protection of children and vulnerable adults” since the late 1990s, implementing its “Safe to Grow” child protection policy.

The spokesman said: “All those who today are seeking to work with children, young people or vulnerable adults in our Baptist churches have to hold an Enhanced CRB Disclosure before starting work.

“If a disclosure revealed a history such as Mr Madavan’s, they would not be allowed to work with relevant vulnerable groups.”