A pensioner – extradited from
Australia – was jailed for eleven years today for decades-old sex
offences against four young girls when they were aged nine to sixteen
years-old.
The crimes dated back to 1949 and 78
year-old ex-serviceman and miner Reginald Davies (pictured), who had
emigrated down under, must have thought he had got away with it.
Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court heard
Davies, now staying in Esbies Estate, Sawbridgeworth, was responsible
for an “entrenched pattern of sustained sexual abuse.”
He denied, but was convicted of 13 of
sixteen offences, against the girls in Abertridwr, Caerphilly, Wales.
Davies was extradited from Perth, where
he had emigrated over twenty years ago.
The court heard he would lavish the
girls with attention and "test the water" by asking them
for a kiss, would touch their legs and then forced them into sexual
acts.
Hanna Llewellyn-Waters, prosecuting,
said: "The defendant nurtured a fear of disclosing the abuse in
the complainants when they were children.
"He made them feel that they would
not be believed, that they were to blame and, on occasion, he
threatened that they would be removed from their parents if they were
to report his abuse of them.
"As the complainants grew up, they
tried to block the abuse from their minds in order to try to be able
to continue with their lives."
He was arrested last July at his
adopted home of Wanneroo on Australia's west coast.
The offences were investigated by
specialist detectives from the Met’s Child Abuse Investigation
team.
The jury heard Davies abused his
victims while he was aged between 15 and 39.
He also told one of his victims
she would be taken to a "naughty girl's home" if she spoke
to anyone about the abuse, and she would never see her mother again.
Davies moved to Australia in 1974, but
in 2008 two of his victims, whilst were holidaying in the country,
decided to confront him and report him to the local authorities.
In August 2010 the Met were
granted an arrest warrant for Davies’ extradition and arrest.
On September 28, last year Davies was
arrested by the Australian authorities and escorted onto an airplane
bound for London where he was met by detectives at Heathrow Airport
and charged.
Detective Inspector Tessa Philpott of
the Child Abuse Investigation Command, said:
”When Reginald
Davies emigrated to Australia in 1974 he thought that he had left
behind not only the UK, but also the horrendous catalogue of abuse he
committed against four small children.
“I would imagine he thought his past
would never catch up with him and he would never face justice, but
thanks to the bravery of his victims, his past did catch up with him,
and today he faces justice.
“I hope that this will go some way
towards helping his victims whose lives have been blighted by him, to
move forward in some small way.
“I also hope that his extradition
from the other side of the world and conviction give other victims
the confidence to come forward and report their experiences to the
police.”
Davies was convicted of: attempted rape
of a child under the age of 12, between1949 and 1953; indecent
assault of a child under the age of 15, between 1949 and 1956.
Attempted rape of a child under
the age of 12, during 1955; indecent assault of a child under the age
of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child under the
age of 14, between 1953 and 1957.
Indecent assault of a child under the
age of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child under
the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child
under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957.
Indecent assault of a child under the
age of 14, between 1953 and1957; inciting a child under the age of 12
to commit an act of gross indecency between 1965 and 1968; rape of a
child under the age of 12, between 1968 and 1969.
Rape of a child under the age of 12,
between 1970 and 1971 and indecent assault of a child under during
1973.
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