Paedophile who told girls, 7, his abuse was just 'playfighting' is jailed

A paedophile who sexually abused children for more than a decade has been jailed for eight years.

Robert Codling, 58, of Princes Road in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire targeted girls as young as seven.

The victims were abused at an address in the town between 2007 and 2019.

During this period, Codling would openly perform sexual acts on himself in front of the children, and would touch them sexually, calling it “playfighting”, said police.

The abuse came to light in 2019 when one of the victims confided in someone close to her, who then reported it to the police.

Codling denied the allegations, but at Cambridge Crown Court on 9 February, he was found guilty of six counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child aged 13 to 15, and exposure.

He was sentenced to eight years and two months in prison.

Det Con Melanie Bull said: “No sentence will ever erase what happened to the victims, but I hope they will be able to find some closure from this traumatic period in their young lives.

“Tackling child abuse is a priority for us and we are working hard every day to bring offenders like Codling to justice.”

Police said anyone concerned someone may have been convicted of a sex offence, and could be posing a risk to someone, could apply for disclosure information through Sarah’s Law.

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