March 2015 Llandudno man jailed for eight years for sexual offences against two young girls A North Wales man convicted of sex offences against two young girls has been jailed for eight years.

Defendant Andrew Mark Horne, aged 45, of Great Orme’s Road in Llandudno, denied nine offences of sexual activity with a child. But he was convicted at an earlier hearing at Caernarfon Crown Court. Last Friday afternoon the judge, Mr Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones, sitting at Mold Crown Court, jailed him for eight years and said that he was considered a high risk to children. Horne was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for life. A sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) was also made without limit of time. That means that he cannot seek contact with his victims, or other girls under the age of 16, and cannot stay in the same house as a girl without express consent from the child’s parent or guardian who knows about the current convictions. Horne, sporting a “Back to the Future” t-shirt in the dock, was told by the judge that he continued to deny the offences and had expressed no remorse. “You have expressed no remorse whatsoever for what you have done,” he said. The judge said that it was clear that the defendant had problems in his life. “But they don’t in any way excuse or explain your conduct,” he said. He could not have any discount in sentencing because he had run the matter to trial which meant that the two victims had to give evidence. Both victims were vulnerable, he said, and because of him they had life experiences of a most negative kind. On the positive side, the defendant was a man capable of hard work. But the offences were so serious that it could only be immediate imprisonment, he said. Elen Owen, defending, said that the pre-sentence report on her client did not help him greatly. “He denies any wrong doing and there is very little I can say, given the verdicts of the jury,” she explained. The defendant had been jailed for a previous GBH which she said arose when he was the victim of a road rage but he over-reacted. The experience of custody had been the un-doing of him. He had marital problems, was drinking and suffering from depression. But she said that she would not put forward any excuses on his behalf because that would be totally inappropriate in such a case.