September 2002

Sly’ sex fiend jailed

A man who showed no remorse after sexually abusing six teenage girls has been jailed.

Trevor Clarke, 56, indecently assaulted the girls over a period of ten years, Hove Crown Court heard.

At his trial last month he denied nine counts of indecent assault involving 14-year-old girls.

But he was found guilty on eight counts and ordered to be cleared of the ninth on the direction of Judge Anthony Scott-Gall.

Clarke, who used to live in Beverley Gardens, Rustington, and owns a kennels in Horsham, was jailed for a total of 15 months yesterday.

The girls cannot be named for legal reasons.

Mark Fenhalls, defending, said: “He is genuinely deeply ashamed and remorseful. He is truly sorry for the extra anguish that the young ladies may have suffered by having to give evidence.”

Judge Scott-Gall said Clarke had shown “no flicker of remorse” for what the girls had been subjected to, both at the time of the offences and during his trial.

He said: “It was a substantial procession of offences. You persistently touched, groped and molested them.

“These were sly, nasty touchings which continued to happen over a period between 1990 and 2000.”

Clarke was given an extended sentence of three years to receive treatment under a sex offenders programme after he is released from prison and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

He was in charge of 10 employees at a cleaning company in West Sussex. The company declined to comment on his conviction.