Paedophile rapist jailed for life

Anthony Barron was given a minimum term of nine years before he can apply for parole and must spend his life on the sex offenders' register.

Judge Julian Hall, sentencing Barron at Oxford Crown Court, said that the offences were "as serious as I think I have ever come across. I see no reason not to jail you for life".

The 54-year-old grandfather had not, said Judge Hall, demonstrated "a hint of sympathy" for his victims whom he treated "as if they were toys".

He abused 11 children - including two young sisters - over a period of nine years after befriending their parents.

He kept a stash of children's toys at his Wantage home to lure the children to his house where he would video the sexual abuse. He would bribe the girls, who ranged in age from three to 12, with sweets and ice lollies not to reveal what he had done to them.

On one occasion he abused both sisters on the same day, one after the other, and on another occasion he abused a child whilst her mother was in the same house, unaware of what was going on.

Barron pleaded guilty to 87 charges including 27 indecent assaults, 11 sexual assaults, three attempted rapes and one assault by penetration. A jury found him guilty of two further charges of rape and attempted rape against a 12-year-old girl.

The offences reflected a "pattern of behaviour", said Judge Hall, that showed the defendant as a "predatory and plausible paedophile who totally abused the trust" of the families he befriended.

The court heard how Barron would groom the girls to accept what he was doing to them and if they objected or started to cry, he would say in a soft paternal voice: "We don't have to do anything you don't want to" and stop. But, said prosecutor Amjad Malik, it was only so that he could be sure of continuing his abuse undetected at a later date.