Twenty-seven years after he molested two small boys a Stratford man has been brought to justice
David Dunham, 55, whose failing health has forced him into early retirement, was allowed to walk free when an Old Bailey judge imposed a suspended jail sentence. Dunham of Holland Road was found guilty earlier this month of indecently assaulting two little boys aged seven and ten years in 1965.
He had denied the allegations.
Judge Nina Lowry had adjourned sentence for reports.
They revealed that he was suffering from a heart condition and even his victims, now fully grown men, described him as ‘backward.’
Sentencing Dunham to nine months jail suspended for two years the judge told him: ‘The affects of this case remind every one of the dreadful misery which a child who is abused by adults can suffer and how the affects can endure for years.
‘Time has not dimmed either victim’s memory of these offences. Each had been the victims of a violent and cruel father and one had even been sexually abused for many years by him (the father).
‘Neither spoke of these matters. Eventually one of them spoke to his wife who worked for the social services and eventually the police were informed.
‘Every right thinking person has the greatest sympathy for these children.
‘Your offences pale into insignificance compared with the offences of the father, now deceased, against his own children.’
Judge Lowry said she was greatly reducing Dunham’s sentence because of his failing health, his otherwise good character and the fact that the offences occurred many years ago.
Dunham was cleared of a more serious charge of attempting an unnatural act (buggery)
