OLDHAM MAN JAILED FOR HISTORIC CHILD SEX OFFENCES
A judge blasted a paedophile who continuously shook his head as she jailed him for historic sex offences.Graham Tardif, 78, had been convicted after trial of rape of a girl under 16; three offences of indecent assault of a girl under 14; indecent assault of a girl under 16, sexual assault of a girl by touching and four offences of sexual assault of a girl under 13 by penetration.
Manchester Crown Court that Tardif, of Oldham, had abused the three girls over a 20 year period dating back to the late 1990s.
The victims cannot be identified for legal reasons.
In one incident, he touched one of the girls between her legs and told her 'boys were not allowed to touch her there'.
"It was an act of physical dominance," said judge Kate Cornell.
He went onto rape the girl, the court heard.
Reading from her victim personal statement, she said: "I am on edge constantly.
I have constant flashbacks of what happened to me at the hands of him.
"I was a child when the abuse started, I had my innocence taken away from me.
Every single day is a struggle.
I was a victim.
I was a warrior and I have had to get to get this far.
But now I am a survivor." When the woman reported matters to the police, another woman also came forward, the court heard.
During this, Tardif shook his head.
"You may shake your head, but these are the facts and the jury found you guilty of the offences," Judge Cornell told him.
"It's not right," he said from the glass dock.
The other woman had been sexually abused by Tardif as a girl.
In a statement, read by prosecutor Tobias Collins, she said she struggled to trust people and struggled to express her emotions as a result.
After Tardif appeared at the magistrates court, another woman reported similar abuse she had suffered at his hands as a child.
"You took advantage of small hearts and manipulated them," she said.
"I don't feel sorry for you, I pity you." Tardif was said to have a number of health problems, including a spinal injury which he sustained in 1984 after an accident at work.
"He is very likely going to, unfortunately, die in prison.
That is a fact - it's his own fault," said his barrister Michael Goldwater.
He said Tardif was born just after the war and lived through times of 'severe hardship'.
"There are two sides.
He is supported by his family - his victims describe him as a monster," he added.
Jailing him, judge Cornell said: "You have broken a part of all of them.
That they are able to move past this in any way is a testament to their strength.
You continue to deny the offending." Tardif, of Stephenson Street, Failsworth, was jailed for 14 years.
He must serve two thirds in custody before being released on licence.
The judge also made him the subject of a restraining order against the three victims indefinitely and he must sign onto the Sex Offenders Register for the rest of his life.
