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| Peter Barber was convicted for child abuse
last year – but media coverage resulted in more victims coming forward |
Peter Barber, a man who groomed four youngsters over a period of 10 years, has been convicted of 19 child sex offences.
Barber was found guilty of the charges today after appearing before a jury at Preston Crown Court during an eight-day trial.
Barber, 62 and formerly of Hawksworth Grove and Sandylands Promenade, Morecambe, was jailed in 2010 after being convicted of child sex offences at Carlisle Crown Court, after abusing a Kendal school boy “hundreds of times” over a five-year period in the 1980s.
The Westmorland Gazette reported how Barber had been convicted of 12 charges of indecent assault and five of inciting the boy to commit gross indecency. The ‘specimen offences’ were just a sample of the ways he abused the boy, the court heard.
This and other media coverage of the original trial led to four boys from Morecambe coming forward to say that they too had been abused by Barber.
The offences, which happened when the boys were aged between six and 15, took place over a decade, culminating in 2010.
Preston Crown Court heard how Barber would take the boys to his home in Sandylands, or out in his car to Middleton Sands, before abusing them.
Following Barber’s conviction at Preston Crown Court today, Detective Sergeant Simon Coates, of the public protection team, said: “Barber has serially targeted young boys and has put his victims through extra pain by making them go through the trial process. I hope that his young victims can seek some comfort from the fact that he has been found guilty.”
Barber is due to be sentenced on 4th August.