An 83 year old man has admitted 14 historic sexual offences against young girls.
Stuart Hall, of Prestbury Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire pleaded guilty to the offences of indecent assault when he appeared at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday, April 16th but reporting restrictions mean this can only be reported from today.
Hall was arrested on 5th December last year and charged with three offences of indecent assault. These offences were committed between 1974 and 1984 and involved three girls aged between nine and 17 years old.
He was subsequently arrested a second time on 22nd January and also charged with one offence of rape and 14 offences of indecent assault.
These indecent assault offences were committed between 1967/68 and 1986 and involved 10 girls aged between 9 and 17 years.
Hall initially denied all the offences but has now pleaded guilty to all of the indecent assault charges (four of the charges were rolled into one indictment, hence the discrepancy between charges and guilty pleas).
He denied the offence of rape against a 22 year old woman and in all the circumstances it has been decided this will not be proceeded with and has been left to lie on file. Hall will be sentenced on 17th June.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Esseen, of Lancashire Constabulary’s Force Major Investigation Team, said: “The admissions of Mr Hall will at least spare his victims the ordeal of having to recount their abuse at a trial. They have lived with what happened for a long period of time and it cannot have been easy for them to come forward, especially as when they did so, they did not know there were others who had also suffered abuse. I would personally like to pay tribute to the victims for their bravery in coming forward to report these crimes.
“The fact that these convictions have come a long time after they were committed shows that we will always take any allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and will investigate them thoroughly no matter how long ago they happened. We will always strive to protect our communities, no matter the status of the alleged perpetrator.
“I would encourage people with any information about sexual abuse or who has been a victim of sexual abuse to come forward and report their concerns confident in the knowledge it will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity.”