Police praise courage of victims after paedophile jailed

A predatory paedophile has been sentenced to 33 years behind bars today, after two trials at Guildford Crown Court.

Darren Jeffries, a delivery driver from Roonagh Court in Sittingbourne in Kent, was found guilty last month of multiple serious sexual offences and abduction against two girls under 17. He must serve at least 22 years in jail before becoming eligible for parole.

The 48-year-old was also found guilty of multiple offences of rape and gross indecency against a girl between the ages of five and 17 at a previous trial heard at Guildford Crown Court in October 2013.

The offences he was convicted of took place in the Sittingbourne area, but Jeffries was caught after Surrey Police were alerted in February 2013 to his meeting and grooming of a 14-year-old schoolgirl in the Surrey Heath area. Officers arrested him and seized seven mobile phones which revealed more than a thousand indecent images and videos. Officers spent almost a year investigating his crimes, and tracing victims.

Jeffries had committed more than 80 offences against nine victims in a number of counties, over a time period of thirteen years.