Man jailed for historic sexual abuse

Thursday, 12 July 2018 07:00

A man who sexually abused young girls over a period of nearly half a century has been jailed.

Michael Cannon, aged 76, of Boltby Lane in Bradford, was sentenced for the offences which were committed between 1969 and 2016.

The case against Cannon began in January 2016, when a 10-year-old girl alleged that he had sexually abused her the previous summer at his home address.

Further investigations by the Bradford District Safeguarding Unit revealed that he was interviewed in 1998 for sexual touching of an 11-year-old girl.

As the case against Cannon progressed a third victim was identified. She disclosed that he had sexually assaulted her in Bradford over a five-year period from 1969, when she was just six-years-old.

Cannon was subsequently charged with multiple offences last September and stood trial at Bradford Crown Court in June, where he was convicted of 18 counts including indecent assault, sexual assault, rape and attempted rape.

He was also found guilty of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, as well as engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child after it emerged he had contacted his most recent victim on Skype and other social media applications.

He was sentenced yesterday (11 July) to 22 years in prison.

Speaking after Cannon was sentenced, Detective Inspector Amanda Middleton, said: “We would like to thank the victims for their bravery in coming forward and hope they will take some comfort in this outcome.

“We also hope it will encourage other victims of abuse to engage with our specially trained officers, who will investigate every report sensitively and thoroughly to bring perpetrators to justice.”

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