Pensioner jailed for raping and abusing young girls

A pensioner has been jailed for 20 years after his victims broke their silence decades after he abused them.

Arthur Bierton, now 72, was convicted at Teesside Crown Court of abusing two young girls in the 1980s and 90s.

The first offences happened just months after he was released from jail, where he had served a sentence for child rape.

Police say he initially lived in Leeds, where some of the offences took place, before moving to Thirsk where he committed further assaults.

Both girls were under ten years old when Bierton first assaulted them but they were so traumatised they were only able to bring themselves to report the offences to North Yorkshire Police last year.

Bierton, who lived in the Stockton Road area of Thirsk, stood trial for 14 charges of sexual abuse, including three counts of raping one of the girls.

He claimed he had a medical condition that meant he could not have carried out some of the offences. When police charged him with the rapes, he simply replied: "Not medically possible". He continued to deny the other charges detectives put to him, saying "impossible" and "definitely not". He also denied he had committed the child rape he was previously imprisoned for, claiming he had only pleaded guilty for a lighter sentence.

However, a jury convicted him of all 14 counts on Wednesday (4/5/16), following a week-long trial.

He was sentenced immediately after the verdict.