Note: Also uses the surname Benazzi.

September 2018: Now living in Warkworth, Morpeth

November 2008

Sex attacker jailed after House of Lords ruling

A sex attacker whose case reached the House of Lords because of a legal blunder is finally behind bars.

Daniel Boyle was quizzed by police in August 2006 after his victim finally broke her silence.

He went on to admit repeatedly sexually abusing the victim as a child in the 1970s.

But Newcastle Crown Court heard how, against good practice, he was charged with a single offence of indecent assault – limiting sentencing powers at the time to a maximum two-year jail term.

The case was adjourned for review by Mr Justice Openshaw in January last year.

And it was only after a ruling in the House of Lords that new charges were laid against the 56-year-old, who admitted eight offences of indecent assault.

Boyle, of High Carr Road, Durham, was yesterday jailed for five-and-a-half years, ordered to register as a sex offender for life and banned from working with children indefinitely.

Euan Duff, defending, said Boyle deserved maximum credit for his admissions and was not to blame for the delay in resolving the case.

He said: “The victim is owed a massive apology, not simply by the defendant, but those who conducted this prosecution because it was conducted with nothing less than ineptitude to begin with.”