'You haven't broken me' - Sussex man's relief as sex offender who abused him as a child jailed
ITV News Meridian reporter Tom Savvides spoke with Stephen Lewsey who was targeted by a sex offender in the 1980s
A father-of-five has spoken of his relief after a man who abused him as a child was jailed for 15 years.
Stephen Lewsey, from Burgess Hill, was just 10 years old when he was targeted by sex offender Glenn Langrish in the 1980s, who then fled to Sweden and changed his name.At 51 years old, Mr Lewsey has decided to speak about what happened to him to encourage others to come forward.
Langrish started communicating with him over CB radio in the 1980s.
That led to Mr Lewsey being offered a weekend job by Langrish, at a now closed down lawnmower repair shop on an industrial estate in Crawley where he worked.
Over a three year period, he was sexually assaulted.
He says he made the decision to talk about what happened "to give other people hope, to encourage others to speak out, to encourage others to come forward".
He added: "There will be more victims.
"Although it was a long time ago and it took me a long time to talk to anybody about it, that I was listened to, I was believed, it was taken seriously.
"And we're a stage now where a convicted paedophile is behind bars.
"But I wanted to demonstrate to him that you haven't broken me and I'm a far better man, far better human being, than he will ever be."
Langrish had fled to Sweden in 1994, changing his name to Glenn Stephens.Mr Lewsey reported the abuse he'd suffered in 2011, encouraged to do so by his family.In 2016 Langrish was tracked down in Sweden but the authorities there were unable to extradite him.
An international warrant was issued for his arrest.
In 2023, Langrish was arrested after travelling to Poland and brought back to the UK.
Last week at Hove Crown Court he was found guilty of sexually abusing Mr Lewsey and was jailed for 15 years.
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Detective Sergeant Becki Buckley from Sussex Police spoke about how brave and courageous Stephen is for coming forward.
She said: "He stuck with us for a very, very long investigation, ultimately culminating in the trial and the conviction of an offender."Langrish has a string of convictions for child sex offences dating back to the 1970s and 1980s having been in and out of prison.He is now behind bars again with the help of Mr Lewsey.
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