February 2023
Serial offending paedophile jailed
Picture above taken in 2011 when Burnham lived in the London area
A former judo coach twice previously jailed for sex offences against boys is back behind bars following a further similar conviction.
In all cases Wayne Burnham, a divorcee, was accused of giving his victims cider and allowing them to smoke, sometimes cannabis, at his home, at the time, in Langley Park, County Durham, before carrying out the offences, all committed in the early 2000s.
Burnham received a three-year prison sentence in November 2003, after admitting indecently assaulting two boys aged under 16, at Durham Crown Court.
Further allegations arose in 2015, also stemming from the early 2000s, when another victim came forward.
It led to a trial at Durham Crown Court in March 2017 at which Burnham, by then living in Erith, in Kent, was convicted of the rape and indecent assault of a boy.
He received a 12-year prison sentence and was made subject of registration as a sex offender and the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), both for life.
Having only recently been released from that sentence on licence supervision, he was back before magistrates in County Durham on January 10, this year, when he admitted a charge of indecent assault on a boy under 14.
The case was sent for sentence today (Tuesday January 7), at Durham Crown Court, where the now 56-year-old defendant received a further two-year prison sentence.
Robin Turton, prosecuting, said the offence dates from the summer of 2002, when the victim recalls being given cider and being allowed to smoke, at Burnham’s home.
On one occasion he was given so much cider that he passed out, due to heavy intoxication, and awoke to discover the defendant with his hands in his underwear fondling him.
Mr Turton said the boy recalled Burnham making light of it, trying to laugh it off by making a remark about the boy’s genitalia.
In an impact statement, read to the court by Mr Turton, the victim said he only began to realise the effect the incident had on him when he reached adulthood.
He has suffered depression and anxiety for which he has turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism.
The victim said as a boy he looked up to Burnham for allowing him to drink alcohol and smoke, both of which he had not previously done, and which he considered, “cool”, at the time.
But it led to a longer-term addiction to alcohol, from his early teenage years onwards, which he believes has affected his employment prospects, as he has been unable to hold down a job on a long-term basis.
The court was told of Burnham’s past convictions, some post-dating the offence he was answering for at today’s hearing.
Jailing him, Judge James Adkin told Burnham: “The aggravating feature of the case is it demonstrates this incident was not an isolated one, but part of a pattern of sexual offending where children were targeted by you for sexual gratification.”
The judge added that had he taken the case to a trial the latest sentence would have been three years.
On his eventual release, Burnham will remain subject to both the lifetime notification and SHPO requirements put in place after his 2017 conviction.
March 2017
Man jailed for 12 years for raping and indecently assaulting boy
A judo coach has been jailed for 12 years for the sexual abuse of a boy in 2002, which only came to light in the last two years.
Wayne Burnham, 50, who went on to serve a three-year prison sentence, imposed in 2003 for sexual offences against other boys in County Durham, has remained at liberty living in Kent since his release on licence in 2005.
But, Durham Crown Court heard his latest victim only plucked up courage to inform police in 2015, having previously only told his mother.
Following Burnham’s arrest in Kent, in June 2015, he denied the allegations.
But, having pleaded not guilty to rape and indecent assault, he was convicted of both offences by a jury following a four-day trial at the court earlier this month.
Paul Abrahams, prosecuting, said as with his other victims, the boy was given cider and cannabis by Burnham, who also showed him male pornography.
The boy, who described the pain the offences caused him, was told not to report what took place and, for many years, heeded Burnham’s threat of violence.
But the court heard it caused him much anguish and, for a while went off the rails, abusing drink and drugs, and self-harming.
Susan Hirst, mitigating, said Burnham has been living a “law abiding life” in Erith, Kent, since his release from his previous sentence, during which he sought help to address his offending.
Jailing him, Judge Deborah Sherwin said his victim, “must have been terrified”, and appears to have struggled to come to terms with the ordeal, having suffered deep psychological harm.
Burnham must register as a sex offender for life and was made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, to run, “until further order”.
UPDATE: Now living in Ushaw Moor in Co. Durham
November 2003
Paedophile jailed for offences against boys
A sex attacker molested two schoolboys after the youngsters took cannabis and drink.
Wayne Burnham kissed one of the teenagers and performed a sex act on both of them during separate incidents last summer.
He staged two attacks in his garden shed and another after following one of the victims, aged 14 and 13, into his bathroom.
Burnham, 37, from Eastern Avenue, Langley Park, near Durham, was jailed by Newcastle Crown Court for three years and ordered to sign the sex offender register for life after admitting five offences of indecent assault.
September 2003
Ex-judo coach admits sex abuse
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