NICHOLAS GREEN, EX-MAYOR OF WESTHOUGHTON, DIES AFTER SERVING JAIL SENTENCE FOR RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT IN SCARBOROUGH

In a tragic development, Nicholas Green, a former mayor of Westhoughton, has passed away at the age of 77. His death occurred at St Helen's Nursing Home in Scarborough, where he had been residing since his release from prison. Green's health had reportedly been in decline, and news of his death, which took place on July 25, has only recently come to public attention.

Green's criminal past is well-documented, as he was convicted of multiple serious sexual offenses. He was sentenced to a decade behind bars in October 1998 after admitting to charges of rape and indecent assault. His crimes spanned over a period of 25 to 30 years, involving a teenage girl and three young girls aged between six and ten. The allegations included a particularly heinous incident where Green forced sex on a young woman on her wedding day.

At the time of his sentencing, Green was 69 years old and a prominent figure in Westhoughton. He had served as a long-standing councillor and was the leader of Westhoughton Town Council, affiliated with the Labour Party. The prosecution, led by Beverley Lunt, revealed that the rapes occurred decades earlier, with the teenage victim now in her 40s. The three young girls, whose ages ranged from six to ten at the time, were daughters of working mothers who had entrusted their children to an unregistered child-minding service operated by Green’s wife, an arrangement that Green exploited for his own illicit activities.

Green pleaded not guilty to four additional charges of indecent assault against another young girl, but these cases were left unresolved and ordered to