JOHN MOSS'S SENTENCE EXTENDED IN DERBYSHIRE AFTER NEW VICTIM COMES FORWARD

In March 2014, a 49-year-old man from Derbyshire, John Moss, had his prison sentence extended after a new victim came forward with allegations of past abuse. Moss, previously jailed for seven years in 2011 for abusing five children over a span of 14 years, saw his sentence reduced to four-and-a-half years following an appeal. He was scheduled for release in July of that year.

However, during a recent hearing at Derby Crown Court, prosecutor Christopher Dean revealed that a fresh victim had contacted the police last summer. The man recounted that he was indecently assaulted by Moss in a field in South Normanton in the late 1970s when he was 10 years old, and Moss was 15. Moss, who formerly resided on Garden Crescent, South Normanton, pleaded guilty to the new charge.

Judge Jonathan Gosling sentenced Moss to an additional 12 months, to run concurrently with his existing sentence. The judge explained, "You could have confessed in 2011 to the additional offence but you did not. On the other hand, he (the victim) had to live with the torment over what happened to him and the anguish of coming forward, thinking it might affect his job—which it of course could not, as he can never be recognized as the victim."

In the 2011 hearing, Derby Crown Court learned that Moss had admitted to abusing three girls and two boys aged between five and nine. At that time, it was reported that Moss had been a reformed man for the previous 19 years, having met his long-term partner and fathering children, without any further offences.

Nevertheless, the recent investigation uncovered that between 1979 and 1993, Moss, as a teenager and young man, engaged in multiple indecent assaults on children. Mr. Dean commented on the new victim’s courage to come forward, noting that he initially kept the incident to himself, but was encouraged to report it to the police. The victim expressed in a statement how the abuse and subsequent nervous breakdowns as an adult have affected him mentally.

Police questioned Moss while he was in prison regarding the new allegation. During the inquiry, Moss suggested that the victim might have come forward for financial reasons. In mitigation, Mark Watson explained that the alleged offence happened many years ago when both Moss and the victim were young and knew each other, playing together and building dens, nests, and rope swings in the woods.