'Dangerous predator' from Northants jailed for child sex abuse

A "dangerous predator" has been jailed for eight years for historic sexual assaults on two girls.

Kevin Gleeson from Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, was convicted after the victims told police about abuse that happened two decades ago.

Gleeson, 67, denied all twelve charges but was found guilty after a trial at Northampton Crown Court.

Northamptonshire Police has praised the "courage" of the women who came forward.

The court heard how the victims told the police in August 2020 that Gleeson had abused them when they were children.

The force's Protecting Vulnerable People department began an investigation which found Gleeson had assaulted one of the children several times and then attacked the other during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Gleeson, from Straws Close in Irthlingborough, was charged with 11 counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14, and one count of gross indecency with a girl under 14.

He was found guilty on all charges last November and remanded in custody.

On 29 February 2024, he appeared before the same court and was told he would serve a total of eight years in prison.

Gleeson will also appear on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Det Con Abigail Kennedy, who led the investigation, said: "Kevin Gleeson's repeated abuse of two young children was abhorrent, and I am very glad that he has received a significant prison sentence which reflects the severity of his offending.

"The passage of time may have left Gleeson feeling he had got away with what he did, but thanks to the courage of the two survivors who came forward to report him he has now been proven in court to be both a dangerous sexual predator and a liar."

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