ROBERT HARGREAVES BOLTON CHILD ABUSER FAILS APPEAL IN BRADFORD

In a case that has spanned over a decade, Robert Hargreaves, a 63-year-old butcher from Buttermere Road, Bolton, has seen his legal challenge to his conviction dismissed by the Court of Appeal in London. The conviction stems from heinous crimes committed at his butcher’s shop in Bradford, where he targeted a young girl and her schoolfriend, both aged between 11 and 12, more than ten years ago.

Hargreaves was originally convicted in November of the previous year at Bradford Crown Court. His charges included attempted rape, three counts of indecency with a child, and one count of indecent assault. The court sentenced him to five years in prison for his actions. The crimes, which involved manipulation and abuse of vulnerable young girls, left lasting scars on the victims, one of whom later took the extraordinary step of tracking him down in 2002 to report the abuse to authorities, still suffering from the trauma of her experiences.

Despite the severity of his crimes, Hargreaves was not arrested until several years later, in 2002, when the victim, who was still grappling with the emotional aftermath of her abuse, made contact with the police. The case was thoroughly investigated, leading to his eventual conviction and imprisonment.

Hargreaves challenged his conviction, arguing that new evidence could have potentially helped his case. His legal team claimed that court documents from the original allegations made by two other girls in the early 1990s—cases that ultimately did not proceed—contained information that might have been relevant. However, these documents had since been destroyed, and the appeal judges—Lord Justice Moore-Bick, Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, and Judge Elgan Edwards—considered these arguments and ultimately dismissed them.

Judge Edwards remarked that the grounds for appeal were based on speculation, emphasizing that there was no concrete evidence to suggest that the destroyed documents contained anything that could have influenced the outcome of the original trial. He stated, “It is sadly the position that he is attempting to make bricks without straw,” underscoring the lack of substantive grounds for overturning the conviction.

In conclusion, the Court of Appeal upheld the original verdict, reaffirming that Robert Hargreaves’s crimes in Bradford, committed over a decade ago, were proven beyond reasonable doubt, and his attempt to overturn the conviction was unfounded. The case highlights the long-lasting impact of child abuse and the importance of justice for victims, regardless of the passage of time.