Three years for child molester

A FORMER Oldham paedophile has been sentenced to three years in prison for molesting a school girl.

Leonard Hoy (69) used a covert camera to secretly film himself interfering with the girl as she sat in her school uniform watching TV.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard Hoy would habitually walk round his home naked.

The pensioner was convicted of indecent assault by a jury after a trial earlier this year.

He was cleared of charges of engaging in sexual activity with a child, indecent exposure, four counts of indecently assaulting a girl when she was between the ages of eight and 13-years-old between October, 1994, and October, 2000, and two charges of taking indecent photographs of a child.

Cheers erupted from the public gallery yesterday as Hoy, now of Albert Road, Burnley, was jailed for three years.

Judge Jonathan Foster QC said: “On April 28, this year, a jury convicted you of a single count of indecent assault.

“You were acquitted of 10 other counts. Some of them dealt with charges of interfering with young girls.

“In my opinion, you have a warped view of sexual propriety.”

Rachel Shenton, prosecuting, said: “There is also video footage of him touching himself in front of the girl.

“The defendant said he had a serious rash and that he wouldn’t get dressed for an hour after he had showered in the morning. He said his behaviour was in no way sexual.”

Hoy said he had set the camera up because he had lost some money and had tried to catch the thief and admitted he had become addicted to the taping.

Keith Harrison, defending, said: “The defendant has been in custody for some time now.

“As a result of this conviction he has lost his home and all his possessions. He has suffered.”