84-year-old Alan Styles, one of the UK’s oldest paedophiles, has been jailed for numerous offences against underage children as young as 8. Styles will spend the next 18 years in prison, which will more than likely be the rest of his life.
Investigators say that they were tipped off about the man’s behaviour after one of his victims told her parents after a sex education class where they learned about inappropriate touching. Styles groomed at least three of his victims, all of whom were under the age of 12. He showered them with gifts to earn their trust, and then sexually abused them and told them to keep quiet. Much of the abuse that has been revealed thus far took place between the years of 2014 and 2018.
Officers raided the suspect’s home in Wednesbury, West Midlands, where they found additional evidence, including a camera and memory cards containing 665 indecent images of children. Many of these images were of the victims that came forward. Initially, Styles attempted to deny the accusations against him, but he ended up coming clean after he was presented with the growing file of evidence against him.
#Paedophile, 84, jailed for 27 offences on victims as young as 8
Alan Styles, 84, groomed his three victims, who were all under the age of 12
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— Azad Miah (@AbuLiyana1) November 15, 2020
In addition to his prison sentence, Styles was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and given two years extended licence at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Detective Constable Hannah Osborne said, ‘It is due to the bravery of the victims we were able to ensure Styles has been put behind bars for a long time. ‘Their courage, and trust in our officers, helped us build up a strong case and ensure he can’t harm any others.’
In its most recent figures, The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 7.5% of adults aged 18 to 74 years experienced sexual abuse before the age of 16 years, which is roughly 3.1 million people, this includes both adult and child perpetrators. The abuse was most likely to have been perpetrated by a friend or acquaintance (37%); around a third (30%) were sexually abused by a stranger.
In the year ending March 2019, the police in England and Wales recorded 73,260 sexual offences where there was data to identify the victim was a child.
