April 2016 Southport paedophile who abused young girl hundreds of times is jailed Police have praised the “immense bravery” of two women who were sexually abused by Southport paedophile John Durkin. The sex predator was today jailed for 16 yerars at Liverpool Crown Court after he put his victims through the ordeal of two trials. Durkin indecently assaulted one victim “on hundreds of occasions” when she was aged between seven and 11. The 53-year-old then turned his predatory instincts to another young girl, who also lived in the Ainsdale area of Southport. Recorder John Jones, QC, said Durkin’s first victim told the court she would see Durkin smiling at her “knowing what was to come”. The judge said: “She said that smile and your face haunts her to this day.” Durkin, of Mount Street, Southport, denied 18 counts of indecent assault at a trial last October, when a jury could not reach a verdict. However, he was found guilty of all charges, relating to sexual offences in the 1980s and 1990s, following a second trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Recorder Jones said Durkin led a “sustained, coercive and abusive pattern of activity” against the first victim. He said she came across as an “impressive and dignified witness” when recalling how he had “exploited her most cruelly”. The judge said: “You believed you could abuse her with impunity.” The first victim today said Durkin involved her in “twisted sexual games” that left her serving a “life sentence” of mental trauma, depression and anxiety. The woman said she has since suffered from flashbacks and was frightened to go out in case she bumped into her tormentor. She said: “I lived in constant fear of John Durkin. What he did to me will never ever go away. “I had my childhood taken away from me.” Recorder Jones told Durkin the second victim also “spoke with horror at the way she had been dealt with at your hands”. Recorder Jones told Durkin to sign on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely and also made him subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He said: “Neither girl was given the chance to avoid, let alone resist, your unwelcome advances.