Two men guilty of child sex abuse in 1980s and 90s

Two men have been found guilty of sexually abusing six young boys over two decades.

David Marsh and Anthony Whitehead carried out their crimes in Rochdale and Manchester in the 1980s and 1990s.

Marsh, 74, and Whitehead, 72, were convicted of grooming and sexually abusing the boys, who were aged between nine and 13 when the abuse started.

Greater Manchester Police commended the victims, now grown men, for their bravery in giving "painful and difficult testimony" during a four week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

The victims were abused for many years in Rochdale, with the men taking them to other parts of Manchester whilst grooming them with cigarettes, alcohol and money, the court heard.

A five-year Greater Manchester Police investigation began in 2019 after one man confided to a person in authority that he had been sexually abused by two men as a boy.

Investigators found that one of the men was dead but that the second man, Marsh, of Northenden, was alive.

Detectives then began to form a picture of a sustained campaign of offending by Marsh and Whitehead, of Atherton, the force said.

The jury unanimously found the men guilty of 35 sex offences.

Det Con Andrea Richards paid tribute and thanked all of the male survivors who came forward and shared their experiences.

“I want to make clear, none of the male survivors should feel they have to carry the shame or guilt in this case, it is not theirs to carry," she added.

"I hope that they all feel that they have finally got some justice.”

District Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West’s rape and serious sexual offence unit, Wendy Chappell, said: “Marsh conducted a vile campaign of sexual abuse on children as young as nine, while Whitehead sexually abused a fourteen-year-old boy.

"They acted solely for their own self-gratification, with no thought for the life-changing trauma their abuse would cause."

Assistant Chief Constable Steph Parker said the investigation was a "telling demonstration of how GMP does not allow the passage of time to be a barrier to justice".

Marsh, of Northenden, and Whitehead, of Atherton, will be sentenced on 27 November.

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