Scunthorpe paedophile, 89, locked up for five years after being convicted of eight child sex offences

An 89-year-old Scunthorpe man has been locked up for five years after being convicted of eight sex offences with children.

The offences committed by Cyril Beedle, of Radcliffe Court, date back to 1978.

Sentencing Beedle at Grimsby Crown Court, judge David Tremberg said the defendant was one of the oldest people ever to be sentenced at the court.

The judge said he had to balance the age and health of the defendant and the severity of the offences in making his sentence.

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Beedle had earlier denied nine sex offences but was convicted of eight of them after a trial in July in which the jury unanimously found him guilty.

The defendant had to try out a number of hearing aids in the dock before sentence was passed.

Judge Tremberg said Beedle had "a paedophilic compulsion".

He said: "You risked and caused serious emotional harm. Your behaviour cast a deep-seated shadow over your victims."

He said that Beedle treated his victims as "objects of your secret sexual pleasure".

The judge said some of the victims had suffered depression and turned to gambling and drugs. Judge Tremberg said the length of sentence could have been "measured in double figures" had it not been for his age and list of ailments.

For the offence of buggery he received three years, for gross indecency offences he received two years consecutively. Other sex offences were sentenced concurrently, giving a total of five years.

He also ordered that Beedle should never work with children.

Prosecuting, Gordon Stables gave details of the offences committed in the 1970s and 1980s.

For Beedle, Charlotte Baines said her only mitigation could be her client's age and frailties.

She said: "He is not a well man. He is a man coming to the end of his life."

She added: "He thinks he will spend the rest of his days in prison."