A convicted paedophile has been jailed for another five years for ‘stealing the innocence’ from three more girls.
Graham Beetson, 66, first served jail time in the late 1980s after he was caught – and attacked – by the father of one of his underage victims.
Three decades on, the bearded child abuser was back in the courtroom dock to be sentenced for sexually assaulting three more girls when he lived in Banbury and Wellingborough in the 80s and 90s.
Reading her victim personal statement, a woman who was lured to neighbour Beetson’s home and sexually assaulted when she was around 11-years-old, said: “One inappropriate, self-gratifying act towards me as a girl ripped the innocence from childhood and marred my whole life.”
A second victim, who was around six when she was made to perform a sex act on Beetson and whose impact statement was read by prosecutor Luke Blackburn, said: “This stole my innocence.”
She added: “I actually hate the defendant, who is sick. I just feel so angry about it all. All parts of my life have been affected by his selfishness, his desires.”
The third victim said the abuse had left her suffering from both mental and physical disorders.
She turned to the dock and spoke the final words of her statement to Beetson, telling him she still felt ‘vulnerable, intimidated and violated’. The defendant, sat in the dock wearing a blue fleece jumper, black-rimmed glasses and an unkempt beard, appeared not to react.
The woman was abused by the defendant when she was around 12 and living in Wellingborough, Northants. The court heard that, by chance, she had heard the defendant’s voice when she picked up the phone at work and suffered a ‘strong emotional reaction’.
Beetson, of Barney, Norfolk, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to indecent assault on a child and gross indecency.
Sending him to prison for five years and nine months, Judge Maria Lamb said: “I note from the psychiatric report that you are recorded as telling the psychiatrist ‘I put my life back together and I’m living quite happily’. You have told the author of the pre-sentence report that you are seeking to rebuild your life.
“What a stark contrast between your life, therefore, at this time and that of your unfortunate victims.
“You may have been able to move on, but they have not.”
Mitigating, Gordana Austin detailed her client’s extensive medical issues, including strokes and recent heart problems. He would find prison difficult, the court heard. Beetson was said to have suffered both physical and sexual abuse as a child.
He must spend an extended year on licence under the supervision of the probation service and will be on the sex offender register for life.
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
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