June 2023

Man jailed for child sex offences

A St Albans man who was convicted of a string of child sex offences was jailed at court yesterday (Monday 26 June).

Eighty-year-old Anthony Dear, also known as ‘Danny’, was sentenced to 15 years in custody, plus a further three years on licence, having previously been found guilty of 23 counts of rape and sexual assault.

The charges related to one female victim who was repeatedly assaulted by Dear over a four-year period, when she was aged between 11 and 15.

Jailing Dear at St Albans Crown Court, the judge commented: “The impact on the victim can never be underestimated. You took away her childhood. You’re just a perpetrator of sexual violence and a paedophile.”

He also thanked the victim for the great courage she had shown.

Dear was previously jailed for six and half years in January 2022, having been convicted of similar offences against a second girl and the latest sentence will run consecutively.