Paedophile, 73, jailed for 13 years over Black Country abuse
A 73-year-old paedophile was starting a 13-year jail sentence today after justice finally caught up with him.
Alan Cook got away with his crimes for over 20 years until a chance glance at a Facebook page drove his victim to reveal the secret that ruined her life.
To her horror she saw him pictured with a girl of junior school age on his lap.
She did not want anyone else to be made to suffer what she had and contacted the NSPCC who alerted the police.
The woman, who was living in Oldbury at the time of the offences, was sexually assaulted by Cook for several years, revealed Mr Glyn Samuel, prosecuting.
Cook was interviewed by police after a formal complaint about his behaviour was made in 2017 but denied the allegations, claiming the victim was trying to blackmail him, continued the prosecutor.
The defendant maintained this position until the day his trial was due to start when he changed his plea to guilty on three charges of sexually assaulting the complainant in her youth.
Two of the three offences were committed on multiple occasions, concluded Mr Samuel.
The ordeal Cook put her through had a deep, long lasting effect throughout her childhood and into adult life as she struggled with flashbacks, severe anxiety and other problems that still haunt her, the court heard.
Mr Rashad Mohammed, defending, said Cook from Llangernyw, Conwy, was ashamed of his actions, found it difficult to talk about them and disclosed: "He says he made a mistake but does not know why."
The defendant was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which indefinitely banned him from any unsupervised contact with girls under 16.
He was jailed for 13 years and can only be released when the Parole Board says it is safe to do so.
Judge Martin Jackson told him: "I cannot understate the impact of your abuse. It had a devastating effect, ruined her childhood and the harm is still ongoing over 20 years later. Right up to the last moment you were accusing her of lying."
