February 2023

Jail for former Buxton pub landlord who sexually abused underage girl

A former Derbyshire pub landlord told an underage girl whose virginity he took “you will remember this date for the rest of your life”.

Derby Crown Court heard how paedophile Graeme Maltby-Baker picked the then teen up for sex with the back seats of his car already down and a duvet placed over them.

The 77-year-old, who was almost 50 years older than his victim, showered the victim with gifts and cash in return for sexual favours. But she said despite people knowing what he had done to her, no one stepped in to stop the abuse.

Jailing him for six years and nine months, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “You are 47 years older than (the victim), she was a teenager when you abused her and what you did has mentally affected her for the rest of her life thus far in ways no one can imagine.

“You were doing this for your own sexual pleasure and you groomed her in order to get your way. You bought her cigarettes and gave her cash, bought her a new laptop and mobile phone.

“It started with groping and led on to the most heinous part of your offending which was having sex with her on two occasions. You then told her you would go to prison if she told anybody.

“She must have wondered what on earth to do. Finally she had the courage to tell people what you had done to her. She was a vulnerable child.”

March Achurch, prosecuting, said the offending took place when the victim, now a grown woman, was under the age of consent and the defendant was the landlord of the former Bull I’th Thorn pub in Ashbourne Road, Buxton.

He said the abuse began with him kissing her and touching her breasts over her clothing and progressed to them having full sex.

The prosecutor said: “She remembers him saying he was old enough to be her grandfather and that he would go to prison if she told anyone. She recalls one time he picked her up in his car and drive her to the Goyt Valley.

“She said when she got into the car the back seats were already down and there was a duvet over them. After they had sex he told her ‘you’ll never forget this date for as long as you live’ referring to him taking her virginity.

“He would give her £30 or £40 for sex, bought her cigarettes, a tablet and a mobile phone, sex toys and lingerie. As a result of what he did her school work suffered and she started to binge drink with her friends.”

Mr Achurch said the woman finally plucked up the courage to report the abuse as she moved into adulthood. In a victim impact statement she told how years later she “still feels his rough moustache and the smell of his aftershave”.

She said: “He took the most important years of my life, I still have vivid nightmares and sometimes wake up in terror. I am looking forward to closing this chapter in my life.”

Maltby-Baker, now of Killordan, Scramoge, in County Roscommon, Ireland, pleaded guilty to charges of sexual activity with a child.

As well as the jail sentence, the defendant will be on the sex offender register for the rest of his life