March 2009 79-year-old paedophile jailed A PAEDOPHILE who sexually abused three young girls has been jailed. Alan Day, 79, of Harvest Court, Beverley, was sentenced at Hull Crown Court to two-and-a-half years in prison for historic sexual abuse. The court heard he committed offences between 1985 and 2002. He had groomed his victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, and then abused them. One of the girls was just five years old when the abuse began. Prosecutor David Gordon told the court one of the victims had said he made her feel like a prostitute because he would perform a sex act on her and then give her money. He also tried to blame one of his victims for the abuse. Day pleaded guilty to five sample charges of indecent assault and indecency with a child. A further charge of indecency was left on the file, but was not prosecuted. The offences came to light after one of his victims, now an adult, told her partner what had happened. The court heard Day had visited schools in the past to read samples of poetry he had written. His barrister Felicity Davies, mitigating on his behalf, said he was now a frail man in poor health and any prison sentence would affect him badly. She also said he was of low risk of reoffending and would lose his house if he was jailed. However, Judge John Swanson ruled the offences were so serious they had to be marked with a custodial sentence. He said: “For offences of this kind, there must clearly be a prison sentence.” Judge Swanson ordered that Day should be made to sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.