Man jailed for historic sex attacks on young girls from Doncaster

A 66-year-old man has been jailed for over five years, after he admitted sexually assaulting two girls in Doncaster and downloading dozens of indecent images of children.
Anthony Wilkinson, 66, was jailed for five-and-a-half years for a string of sexual crimes, during a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on TuesdayAnthony Wilkinson, 66, was jailed for five-and-a-half years for a string of sexual crimes, during a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday
Anthony Wilkinson, 66, was jailed for five-and-a-half years for a string of sexual crimes, during a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday

Anthony Wilkinson remained silent as Judge David Dixon sent him down to begin a 66 month sentence for a string of sexually-motivated crimes committed in Doncaster.

Among the offences committed by Wilkinson were two historic offences of indecent assault, which were committed against two young victims in separate incidents, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Prosecutor, Megan Rhys, told the court how Wilkinson's first offence was committed between 1999 and 2001, against a girl who was aged between eight and nine-years-old.

Wilkinson began assaulting the girl while she was asleep, the court heard.

Through a statement read out in court, Wilkinson's victim described the devastating impact his offending had had on her life, both as a child and as an adult.

"I feel like it's made me into the person I am, I'm a very closed-off person. It's made me feel really unconfident and dirty," she said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Wilkinson carried out the second indecent assault between 2002 and 2003 against a girl who believes she was 14-years-old when the offence occurred.

The woman told the court how Wilkinson's offending had to her feeling less able to trust people when it came to the safety of her young daughter.

Wilkinson was finally arrested for his crimes in March 2016, when he was also found to have dozens of indecent images and movies of children stored across two electronic devices.

Ms Rhys told the court how Wilkinson was found to have three movies and eight images in Category A - the most serious of the legal categories for indecent images, which is defined as material that shows children being raped.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Wilkinson, of Birdham Road, Doncaster was also found to have nine movies and 30 images in Category B, as well as 35 Category C images.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and three counts relating to the downloading of indecent images on the first day of his trial last month.

Gordon Stables, defending, told the court it was 'very rare' for defendants to admit any kind of wrongdoing in cases of this type, and he had pleaded guilty when he had in order to prevent his victims from having to give evidence.

This line of mitigation was rejected by Judge Dixon, who said Wilkinson would have pleaded guilty 'much sooner' if he was truly concerned for the welfare of his victims, neither of whom can be named for legal reasons.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Referring to the findings of a pre-sentence report, Mr Stables added: "The view of the probation officer is that this defendant accepts full responsibility, and that he appears remorseful and feels disgusted by his actions."

In addition to passing a custodial sentence, Judge Dixon also put Wilkinson on the sex offenders' register for life, and made him the subject of a life-long sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

The purpose of a SHPO is to precent an offender from committing further crimes by imposing a range of conditions.

Among the conditions set out in Wilkinson's order is a ban on him owning any electronic devices on which it is possible to delete his internet history or living with, or having any, unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16 without the consent of social services.

* South Yorkshire Police have been asked to provide a custody image of Wilkinson