Man, 57, guilty of sex attacks on young girls

Harry Priestley was remanded in custody by a judge at Durham Crown Court after being found guilty on seven of eight charges.

He was warned he would face a prison term when he returns for sentence later this month.

Priestley, 57, of Oakley Green, West Auckland, County Durham, denied four counts of indecent assault and four of gross indecency against the girls.

The offences were said to have been committed over a period of about nine years, involving one girl from the age of five.

Amanda Rippon, prosecuting, said the offences involving the second victim related to a two-month period, when she was aged five, during 1991.

One girl complained to her mother and the offending ended, but the overall picture only came to light last year when the other girl complained to police.

Priestley was arrested and suspended from his job, as a schools site maintenance engineer.

None of the offences was said to have been committed against pupils at schools where Priestley worked.

Priestley claimed none of the allegations was true and that the incidents did not take place.

But the jury found him guilty on all four indecent assaults and three of the gross indecency counts, following four hours deliberation on the fourth day of the trial yesterday.

Judge Richard Lowden discharged the jury from continuing deliberations over the outstanding gross indecency charge and Miss Rippon said the prosecution would ask for it to lie on the file.

Adjourning for preparation of pre-sentence reports on Priestley by the probation service, Judge Lowden remanded him in custody and said: "A sentence of imprisonment is inevitable, but the length of it may be affected by the contents of the pre-sentence report."

Priestley will go back before Judge Lowden for sentence, when he will be sitting at Newcastle Crown Court, on July 26.

As a result of the conviction he will be banned from working in environments with children.