FORMER SOLDIER JAILED FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE
2017.Craig Sellers, a former soldier and power station worker, received an 18-month prison sentence for child abuse that occurred more than 13 years ago.
York Crown Court was informed that the abuse had serious repercussions for his victim and her family.
Prosecutor Camille Morland noted that the young woman experienced mental health problems, including depression and panic attacks, which were directly linked to Sellers’ sexual misconduct.
She had struggled with forming relationships and had concealed her ordeal for years.
Recently, she began attending counselling sessions, which are helping her process the trauma associated with the abuse.
An NSPCC spokesperson said after the hearing: “She has shown incredible bravery in speaking out to ensure that he now cannot endanger children." Andrew Semple, defending, said Sellers’ sister would have to substantially change her day to day routine to care for their elderly mother, who has mobility problems, while her brother is in jail.
Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told Sellers he had exploited his friendship with a Selby woman.
“You used the opportunity of being in her (the woman’s) house to satisfy your sexual urges with the young girl who lived there,” he told Sellers, aged 46.
“You give the impression of being self confident, somewhat arrogant and certainly capable of dominating a young girl, which is what you did.” Sellers, of Kellington Lane, Eggborough, denied three charges of indecent assault of a girl when she was aged 13 or 14, but was convicted by a York jury last month.
In addition to the 18-month jail sentence, he was also put on the sex offenders’ register and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order banning him from any contact with the victim, both for ten years.
Mr Semple, handing in an Army discharge record, said Sellers had served his country “with distinction” for nine years in Bosnia, Iraq, Northern Ireland and elsewhere.
As a civilian, he had worked for 21 years at Ferrybridge before giving up his job after his trial.
He provided regular care for his mother.
The judge delayed sentencing Sellers after the trial so he and his family could make arrangements for his mother’s care during his imprisonment.
