June 2018

Man jailed for 22 years for raping young girl in Scarborough

A man who repeatedly raped a young girl over a  four year period has been jailed for 22 years.

Roy Varley, 57, abused the under-age child at properties in the Scarborough area and checked into hotels with her on the pretext that she was helping him with his work, York Crown Court heard.

The manipulative child predator gave the girl money, bracelets, a Blackberry mobile phone and watches as sweeteners while systematically abusing her, said prosecutor Nick Adlington.

The court heard that Varley raped the girl on “numerous” occasions.

He was arrested after police went to his home and seized his mobile phone with text messages which laid bare his unhealthy obsession – but he wasn’t charged until two years later.

In one message, Varley told the girl: ‘Miss you, love you, want to be around you.’

In another message, he told the youngster she was “hot”. One text revealed how Varley tried to coax the girl into meeting him, telling her: “Come on up tomorrow night and we’ll do what we used to do. Up to you?”

The girl – who cannot be named for legal reasons – rejected Varley’s advances, telling him she had a boyfriend. “It is the crown’s case that the sexual intercourse with (the girl) was all without her consent,” said Mr Adlington.

Suspicion arose in 2008 but he wasn’t arrested until years later. Varley admitted taking the girl to hotels on “many occasions” and sharing a bed, but he had denied any sexual contact. 

He claimed they would “chat, chill and listen to music”, and he had only cuddled her. He denied sexual wrongdoing and claimed the messages were “innocent” and that references to her being “hot” were a “joke”.

Varley, of Lennox Close, Hunmanby, was charged with 10 counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault. He was also charged with one count of sexually assaulting another girl at a property in the Scarborough area.

He denied all the allegations, but on Monday the jury found him guilty of eight out of the 13 counts.

The eight rape counts he was found guilty of included two counts when the girl was under 13 years of age.

Varley was found not guilty of two counts of raping a girl when she was under 13 and three counts of sex assault (one relating to the other girl).

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC jailed Varley for 22 years, with a one-year extension on licence.