PAEDOPHILE VOLUNTEER AND FIREFIGHTER JAILED FOR CHILD ABUSE AT KEIGHLEY & WORTH VALLEY
Manipulative paedophile Alistair Langland preyed on boys whilst volunteering at a heritage railway in Keighley.The 74-year-old has been locked up for more than 17 years by a judge at Bradford Crown Court.
Mr Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC said Langlands had shown “not a scintilla of remorse” for a string of sex assaults on two victims in the 1980s and 1990s.
The former fire officer, of Finlarig Terrace, Dundee, was previously jailed in 2000 for similar offending against another teenager during one of his trips to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.
The court heard how Langlands took advantage of his position as a person in authority, and as a trusted member of the railway staff, albeit as a volunteer, to groom his victims and plan his assaults.
Recorder MacDonald told him: “I am concerned that … you did not accept that you were rightly convicted [in 2000], and of course you contested these allegations to the bitter end and beyond.
“You consider that you are not guilty.
There is not a scintilla of remorse in your conduct.” Langlands was convicted by a jury after a trial.
The court heard that Langlands, a railway enthusiast, began volunteering at Keighley in 1969.
After becoming a full-time firefighter in 1972 he would travel from Dundee twice a month to the five-mile heritage railway, which runs through Bronte Country from Keighley to Oxenhope via Oakworth and Haworth.
He became a station officer at Tayside Fire and Rescue Service, and a responsible officer in “overall charge of all operations” at the railway.
Recorder MacDonald told Langlands: “Your position on the railway, and in life in general, is to be contrasted with the people who became the victims of your offending” who were groomed, manipulated, and coerced into sexual activity.
“You took full advantage of a number of boys in order to satisfy yourself sexually.
“The offences occurred over a prolonged period of time.” Langlands, who appeared via video link from HMP Leeds, was sentenced for 11 offences of indecent assault involving two victims.
He was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order without limit and will have to register as a sex offender for life.
A victim personal statement was read out in court.
An extract from it reads: “He was an adult; I was a child.
He was someone I should have been able to trust.
He had all the power and control.
“I had no self-identity.
I am only now starting to feel as though I'm finding myself, all these years later.
I want to take back some control.” Detective Constable Bethan Windsor of Bradford District’s Child Safeguarding Team said: “It cannot be underestimated the sheer bravery of both these victims coming forward after so long and reporting these heinous crimes to us.
“They have managed to navigate the complexities of the criminal justice system and are now getting the justice they so rightly deserve.
“Langlands took advantage and abused these two boys when they should have been safeguarded.
“You could hear the devastating impact that this crime has had on his victims, from the victim impact statements.
“If you have been a victim of a sexual offence and haven’t yet reported it, we have specialist teams who will listen to you and support you throughout the process.”
