ELLIOTT APPLEYARD GUILTY OF SEXUAL ABUSE IN LEEDS COURT
A man with a disturbing history of abuse has been convicted of sexually assaulting his teenage daughter, whom he falsely treated as his 'wife'.Elliott Appleyard, aged 71 and residing on Gilthwaites Crescent in Denby Dale, was found guilty following a seven-day trial at Leeds Crown Court.
A jury composed of seven women and four men took just under two hours—specifically one hour and 50 minutes—to unanimously convict him on 15 charges, including five counts of rape and ten counts of indecent assault.
Miss Carol Higgins, the victim, who is now 49 and a mother of two, showed her resilience by openly sitting in the public gallery alongside her partner, brother, and other family members to hear the verdict.
She expressed her emotions through a smile and tears.
Higgins bravely waived her right to anonymity, revealing the pain she endured.
The abuse was alleged to have taken place during the 1980s when she was between 13 and 15 years old.
She first reported the abuse to police in 1985, but was discouraged from pursuing prosecution at the time, being told she risked being branded a liar and damaging her reputation.
It wasn't until 2015 that Higgins reported the abuse again.
Court testimonies revealed that after Appleyard’s wife left him, he placed his engagement ring on his daughter's finger.
Higgins recounted that her father expressed a desire to treat her like a wife and told her they would 'live together happily ever after.' Notably, she described the first assault, where she confronted him by asking what her grandfather—Appleyard’s father—would think of his actions.
She recalled that Appleyard responded, 'He believes the same as me—that grandfathers should break their daughters in like the Indians do.' He also tried to normalize the abuse by claiming that other friends of his engaged in similar acts with their fathers.
Additional disturbing details included Appleyard keeping photographs of his daughter in underwear in a box and taking her to a barnesley tattoo parlour to have a rose tattooed between his nickname Sam and his given name on her shoulder, a tattoo she later had removed via laser.
The court heard that his abuse had significantly impacted her adult life, with Higgins receiving ongoing counseling.
Prosecutor Peter Hampton described the trauma: 'The abuse destroyed all of her adult life.' The court also learned that Appleyard’s wife and the mother of his children had been threatened with a machete for having a 'sex dream,' and she faced a firearm being pointed at her during an incident.
Following the verdict, Appleyard was remanded in custody and is scheduled for sentencing the following morning.
A spectator in the gallery called him a paedophile as he was led away.
Higgins now resides in Ackworth and authored an autobiography titled 'Conquering the Impossible: Making the Dream Come True,' published in 2015.
