A MAN was jailed for child sex abuse he committed 30 years ago.

David Wardle, 62, is now a respected grandfather and pillar of his community, Teesside Crown Court was told.

He went to prison still protesting his innocence despite a jury finding him guilty of six sex offences against a girl in 1977.

The judge said that Wardle's behaviour had tainted her life.

Robin Denny, defending, said: "He maintains his innocence.

"This is a man who has a number of children, stepchildren, even grandchildren, and it's not alleged that anything has happened in the last 30 years, and many of his family are in court today.

"He has had a stable relationship with a lady, also present in court, for many years."

The Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Peter Fox QC told Wardle: "All the evidence in court in documentary form from her (the victim) indicates that such conduct has tainted her whole life in a serious and debilitating way.

"These are therefore very serious crimes of which you have been convicted for which there can be no credit for a plea of guilty."

The judge added: "On the other hand it was all more than 30 years ago and since then you have become a family man, and there is no suggestion from any other source that such behaviour has been directed in any other direction to any other child or person.

"Indeed I have letters put before me this morning to show how family members of yours, a grandaughter and daughter, endorse the trust which they have placed in you and which you have fulfilled.

"There is no suggestion of you being anything other than a decent family man, well-respected on the estate where you live, and of you giving those other children for whom you had responsibility a very happy childhood."

Wardle now of Avon Close, Stockton, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he was found guilty of four offences of indecency with a child and two of indecent asault.