July 2000 Sex attack security guard jailed A SECURITY guard has been jailed for 14 years for sex offences stretching back 24 years. The sentence was imposed at Teesside Crown Court yesterday on 62-year-old Frederick Charles Sheppard, of Hundens Lane, Darlington, who pleaded guilty to 11 sample counts of indecent assault. Abuse took place in a car at garage showrooms in Darlington, where Sheppard was nightwatchman. One offence occurred in a waiting room at Darlington Memorial Hospital, while his wife was terminally ill in intensive care. Tim Roberts, mitigating, said Sheppard had spared the four complainants the ordeal of having to give evidence against him in court. Sheppard, who admitted indecency on three girls and a boy, was told by Judge Peter Fox QC he humiliated them in a deeply corrupting way. “These awful experiences will live with your victims for the rest of their lives,” the judge added. Sheppard was put on the sex offenders’ register for life. His son, Frederick Barry Sheppard, 35, of Greenwell Street, Darlington, was cleared of one count of rape and seven charges of indecent assault involving two youngsters.