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Taxi driver cleared
A Beverley taxi driver has been cleared of attacking a five-year-old boy, 40 years ago, when he was just 14 years-old himself.
Alan Ford, 54, denied two charges of indecent assault on a boy who claimed he has not been able to lead a normal life, partly because of the abuse he suffered at his hands.
Charges were brought against Mr Ford, a member of Beverley Lions Club, after Ford was allegedly heard swearing to a cousin. The complainant heard about it and told a jury: “He started it. I’m going to finish it,” Hull Crown Court heard.
Mr Ford, who has supported the church lads in Beverley, had to go through a two-day trial before he was finally cleared. He told the jury he admitted babysitting for the complainant - but insisted he had never touched him.
The complainant told the court he was twice abused by Ford when he was five or six, when his mother and father went out for the evening and Ford was the babysitter.
He told the jury Ford pushed him into his mother’s bedroom and put his arms behind his back. He said he then grabbed his head and made him perform a sex act.
He said: “I was crying. I didn’t want to do it. The first time it went on for 20 minutes. I was pushing him away.”
He said a second attack happened the following Saturday. He said Ford was invited to babysit again. “He threatened me. He said he would tell everyone. The same thing happened again. It lasted five or 10 minutes. Both my arms were bent back.” He said he cried and hid under his bed until his mother and father came back.
He said: “I told my mum again. My dad said: ‘If you tell anyone, I will kill you!’ I have lived with it all these years.” He said his father had beaten his mother and suggested that neither of them should contact the police.
Defence barrister Richard Thompson said Mr Ford, of Crawthorne Road, denied the two charges of indecent assault on a child and believed they could have been the result of malice. Mr Thompson asked the complaint if he was sure of events.
The complainant replied. “I have a memory like an elephant. This has always been on my mind for 40 years. I have tried to block it out to forget about it. In those days it was never the thing to say. I didn’t want to tell people about it. I was scared I have always said ‘why me’? I think the majority of problems I have are because of him.”
But Mr Thompson told the jury they had to consider what the motive was. He said: “It could be down to malice. It could be that he has distorted events. It could be that something happened in his childhood that has nothing to do with Alan Ford. He is not a sex offender he is not a criminal at all.”
The jury took less than 30 minutes to find Mr Ford not guilty. Judge Michael Mettyear told them they had reached the correct decision.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 15 C
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Wind direction: North
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