GORDON HUMPHREY AND SIDNEY BARBER SENTENCED IN LEICESTER FOR PERVERTED CRIMES

In August 2009, a child sex offender received a life sentence after being convicted of multiple sexual offenses against minors over a span of 23 years. Gordon Humphrey, aged 65, from Brighton Avenue, Syston, was sentenced following a jury's findings of numerous sex crimes involving two schoolgirls and a boy. The judge at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Michael Pert QC, sentenced Humphrey to life imprisonment, stating he must serve at least 10 years before being eligible for parole. "Your depravity was such that you were able to share (a victim) with your co-defendant," the judge remarked, also noting, "Offending on this scale, mercifully, is rare."

Humphrey's associate, Sidney Barber, aged 50, of Brookside, Warcop, Cumbria, was also found guilty of repeatedly raping one of the girls, sometimes alongside Humphrey. Barber received a 15-year prison sentence, with the requirement that he serve at least half of that term. Both men denied all allegations.

The court ordered both men to be subject to lifelong sexual offences prevention orders, prohibiting them from all contact with children. Humphrey was additionally convicted of indecently assaulting a boy under 13 in the 1970s, as well as two indecent assaults and five counts of rape against a girl aged 7 to 11 during the same period. He was also found guilty of offences against a second girl, including two indecent assaults and five counts of rape from her age of nine into her teenage years in the 1990s.

Barber was convicted of three counts of raping the same girl between the ages of 12 and 15. It was claimed that Barber would give her £20 after these assaults. Humphrey was also identified as having photographed and filmed another victim.

Humphrey, who was arrested in November 2007, had instructed his victims not to disclose the abuse. His defense attorney, Carl Gaskell, stated that Humphrey was suffering from ill health and continued to deny the charges. Meanwhile, Gerald Jones, representing Barber, asserted his client maintained innocence and clarified that Barber was not accused of grooming the victim, but rather taking advantage of the situation created by Humphrey.

Judge Pert described the offenses as "sickening" and labeled Barber's behavior as "depraved of a high order," emphasizing the serious nature of the crimes committed by both men.