SEX OFFENDER HAROLD WHARTON SENTENCED TO LENGTHY PRISON TERM FOR CHILD ABUSE

A convicted sex offender who denied sexually assaulting a primary school-age girl has been handed a new jail term.Harold Wharton, 45, was previously jailed in 2018 for grooming and sexually abusing a child, when he went by the name George Charlton.In 2022, a second victim of Wharton's contacted Nottinghamshire Police to report offences committed more than 25 years ago.After Wharton was given a sentence of eight years and six months at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, the force's Det Con Aimee Robinson said the case showed both victims and perpetrators "there really is no time limit on investigations".The court heard Wharton, of HMP Whatton, abused the girl on at least two occasions in Nottinghamshire during the late 1990s.Police said Wharton denied the allegations against him and dismissed the testimony of a witness who was herself a child at the time.After a week-long trial in June, he was found guilty of two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13, under the 1956 Sexual Offences Act due to the age of the offences.He must also register with police indefinitely.The force praised Wharton's victim for her "extremely powerful" evidence at trial.Det Con Robinson said: "The victim in this case was so young at the time of these offences that she had no idea what was happening to her."As she grew older, she began to understand the seriousness of what this man had done to her all those years before."However, like many victims of this kind of abuse, she found it very difficult to come forward."As he begins another very lengthy prison sentence, I hope this case serves as a reminder to both victims and offenders that there really is no time limit on our investigations."