A sexual predator has been jailed for eight years for the systematic sexual abuse of a young girl.
John Arthur Fairburn, 74, a former farmer from Deighton, south of York, was already serving a five-and-a-half-year jail sentence for the sexual abuse of two other girls.
But another victim came forward more recently after hearing of Fairburn’s sentence in November 2020.
She told police that she too had been abused by Fairburn about five decades ago, York Crown Court heard.
Fairburn, a married father-of-three, was brought in for questioning and admitted the offences, which occurred over a prolonged period when the girl was between nine and 14 years of age.
He was charged with ten counts of sexually or indecently assaulting the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Fairburn admitted eight of the ten charges – some of which were multiple-incident counts – and appeared for sentence yesterday (Tuesday, June 14), when the prosecution decided to offer no evidence on the two denied matters.
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Prosecuting barrister Nick Adlington said the victim had not told anyone about the abuse for nearly 50 years until November 2020.
In a statement read out in court, the victim said that Fairburn had “taken advantage of my innocence and naivety”.
“I felt ashamed and violated when I realised the significance of what he had subjected me to,” she added.
“It’s affected my relationship with men and I find it difficult trust people.” The effect on her had been so profound that she was referred for counselling in the 1990s but after just one session she decided not to continue because it was “too distressing to talk about”.
‘Overwhelming shame’
“The shame is overwhelming some days,” she said.
“The abuse is in my thoughts every day. I will never forgive John Fairburn for what he subjected me to. No apologies can make up for his depraved actions.”
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In November 2020, Fairburn was jailed for five-and-a-half years for sexually abusing two young girls at a property in the York area.
He admitted six counts of sexually assaulting one of the girls, four counts of sexual assault against the other youngster and one count of inciting a girl under 13 years of age to engage in sexual activity.
The court heard he had sexually assaulted them on “multiple” occasions after grooming them.
The girls – who were both very young – were abused in separate incidents over a prolonged period of time.
‘Genuine remorse’
Kevin Blount, mitigating, said Fairburn felt a “great deal of personal shame” for his offences against all three victims and had shown “genuine” remorse.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said the latest victim to expose Fairburn’s “wicked” offences had clearly been abused on “many” occasions.
He added that Fairburn was an “offender of particular concern”.
Jailing Fairburn for eight years, the judge said it would have been more but for his timely guilty pleas and the confines of current sentencing guidelines for historic sex offences.
He told Fairburn he would have to serve at least half of that sentence behind bars in addition to the prison term he was already serving.
Fairburn was ordered to serve an extra one year on prison licence upon his eventual release from custody. He was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and made subject to a lifetime sexual-harm prevention order for the protection of children.