May 2016 Four members of same Darlington family now behind bars for depraved child sex crimes A PAEDOPHILE was last night starting a 16-year prison sentence – as he became the fourth member of his family to be locked up for child sex offences. Derek Smith is likely to die behind bars after it was revealed that the 50-year-old Darlington pervert is not expected to live more than three years. Smith’s father, George snr, his brother George jnr, and his nephew Mark are all in prison serving sentences for child abuse, Teesside Crown Court heard. Judge Sean Morris called them “a dysfunctional family with no boundaries” as he jailed Derek Smith for a catalogue of offences against two boys. The former labourer still denies carrying out the attacks, but was said by his barrister to be “old-school courteous” and was prepared to be punished. Rod Hunt, mitigating, said Smith’s liver was failing, and told Judge Morris: “Two years is a good bet, three years would seem more or less a certainty.” Derek Smith The court heard how one of his victims reported what had happened to Smith’s depraved brother – but he was simply laughed at and called a fantasist. He kept his ordeal from the 1980s a secret after that, but came forward when he learned last year that Smith had been arrested for abusing another boy. Prosecutor Richard Bennett said the second victim was told he would get into trouble with the police if he told anyone. The abuse continued until Smith’s father, George, 79, was arrested for sexually abusing two girls in 2010. He was jailed for eight years in 2013. Click here for more on George Smith snr George Smith jnr, 54, was convicted of attempted rape and three indecent assaults against a girl in the 1970s, and got four years in March. Click here for more on George Smith jnr Mark Smith, 20, is serving a seven-year sentence after he was found guilty after a trial last year of raping and sexually assaulting young boys.
Click here for more on Mark Smith Mr Hunt told the court: “The whole thing is just deeply depressing, deeply sad. One struggles to find any glimmer of light in this history.” The court heard the first boy abused by Derek Smith fought back with a knife after the pervert climbed into his bed, pretending to be cold. Judge Morris told Smith: “He reported it the next day to your father, who didn’t believe him, in fact, he laughed at him and called him a fantasist – and that was that. “He came forward after it became known that you had been arrested for sexually assaulting your next victim, and the fact he came forward, I’m sure, must have taken a lot of courage. “Fortunately for him, he said in his evidence that he had completely got over this.”