JUSTICE FINALLY CATCHES UP WITH PERVERT 50 YEARS AFTER HE SEXUALLY ABUSED YOUNG BOY IN SUNDERLAND
Justice has finally caught up with a child sex attacker almost half a century after he abused a young boy.Brian Harrison was just a teenager himself when he groomed the child with gifts and told him the sexual abuse was their secret.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the victim lived with the ordeal, which happened in Sunderland, for decades before plucking up the courage to report it to police.
Harrison, now 66, of Poachers Lane, Warrington, Cheshire, admitted four charges of indecent assault and two of indecency with a child.
The victim said it "impacted every part of his life".
In a statement outlining the effect it had on him, the man said he lived the rest of his life with "negative views of life and people".
He added: "Brian Harrison preyed on me as a very young child.
I have carried the secret which feels like individual embarrassment for over 45 years." Judge Robert Adams jailed Harrison, who has heart problems, for four years and four months.
The judge said he had to assess what sentence would have been imposed if Harrison, who has no similar convictions, had been before the court at the time, as a youth.
He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
The court heard Harrison, who separated from his wife after his arrest, feels "very bad" about the harm he caused to his victim and wished to apologise to him through his lawyers.
Detective Constable Wood, of Northumbria Police, who led the investigation said after the hearing: "It's incomprehensible to imagine what the victim has been through – having kept these crimes to himself for more than four decades.
I am extremely grateful he bravely decided to disclose Harrison's crimes to us, which allowed us to take action and finally put his abuser before the courts.
I hope he feels extremely proud of himself, he’s finally allowed himself to get justice." She added: "I hope this case shows other people out there who may be in two minds about telling police that it's truly never too late to start this process.
No one should have to go through anything like this, and I'd urge anyone who has been a victim of any form of sexual offending to reach out, whether it happened yesterday, last week, or decades ago.
There is no time limit on the support we can provide – we're here for you."
