A globetrotting humanitarian entrepreneur, who has worked with the Red Cross and Save the Children, has been cleared of molesting a 14 year-old boy in a grotty King’s Cross hotel room three decades ago.
Former Scarborough resident Jeff Eames, 74, the CEO of non-profit travel organisation TARA International, says nothing happened during the trip.
He was eventually found not guilty of indecently assaulting the teenager and procuring an act of gross indecency on August 6, 1983 while sharing a hotel room bed.
The verdicts came after two contested jury trials at Blackfriars Crown Court.
Eames, of Bradley Avenue, London, Ontario, Canada had travelled from North Yorkshire that day for the NFL’s first-ever Wembley Stadium game, a pre-season clash between the Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Cardinals.
Prosecutor Mr. John Livingstone told the jury during the first trial: “The boy was very reluctant to get into bed at all and Mr. Eames told him not to worry.
“He says he was anxious and scared and positioned himself as close to the edge of the bed as he could.
“The defendant brought his body close to him and kissed him and the defendant then performed oral sex on him.
“That was something the boy did not want to do.”
Eames then encouraged the youngster to perform as sex act on him, the court heard.
“He was petrified by what had happened and didn’t know what to do and did not report it at the time.”
The complainant, now aged 48, told the jury: “Every time I travel to King’s Cross from Yorkshire there’s a fear, it’s terrible, even yesterday.”
Fighting back the tears he said: “It was so surreal, he got closer and closer to me and I’m thinking: ‘What’s going on here?’
“I remember feeling his horrible hairy chest on me. I remember being turned on to my back and it is a trigger I have to this day.
“It was like a paralysis and he did it in a coaxing way, not a violent way.
“Afterwards he said: ‘There you go. Welcome to my world. You can now enjoy having sex with boys as well as girls.’
“That has damaged me more than most. It has had a lasting impact and he said it was like an initiation.”
Years later the complainant heard Eames was visiting the UK for a short time. “I’d heard he had cancer and hoped he’d died.
“How dare he just walk back into Scarborough. I’d just had it, I couldn’t take it anymore, couldn’t run away anymore and reported him to North Yorkshire Police.”
The witness said he even feared for his own son’s safety while Eames was in town.
When arrested he confirmed they stayed in a hotel, but denied anything happened apart from the complainant asking for a “cuddle” which Eames refused.
Eames was Past President of the Canadian Red Cross’s London, Ontario branch from May, 2010 to May, 2013 and a consultant to the Pathy Family Foundation from 2009 to 2012.
He was an advisor to CARE International UK between 1997 and 1999 and to Save the Children between 2004 and 2006 and in August, 2012 received the queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada.
No comments:
Post a Comment