A MAN who sexually assaulted a young boy and girl when he took them on trips to woodland on the back of his bicycle has been jailed for a total of seven years.
Richard Burton, 28, also carried out indecent attacks on the children in a flat where he was living at the time, Leeds Crown Court had heard.
A jury convicted him in March after a trial of nine charges of indecent assault between 1995 and 1997 which took place in woods at Armley and his then home in Wortley, both Leeds.
At the time the children were both under 10-years-old and he threatened to kill them if they complained about his behaviour.
Burton’s barrister, James Keeley, said he had a limited mental capability and a “mixed bag” of social circumstances had brought him to court. He continued to deny the offences of which he had been convicted.
But passing sentence, Judge Shaun Spencer QC, told him: “I am quite satisfied you are possessed of sufficient wit to know full well what you were doing was wrong.”
Burton will serve up to two-thirds of his sentence behind bars before being released on licence because there was a need to protect the public and help his rehabilitation, said the judge.
The jury had heard the girl kept silent about being assaulted over a number of years because of Burton’s threats to kill her if she did not keep quiet.
But his offending was revealed last year when the girl, now a teenager, complained to her mother.
Timothy Capstick, prosecuting, said the boy, who had also been threatened with death by Burton if he revealed his activities, then broke his silence.
Police arrested Burton last April but he claimed the allegations were a “pack of lies”.
