December 2006 Justice after eight years – 1998 attacker in court A 35-YEAR-OLD man who indecently assaulted a teenager has finally been sentenced – more than eight years after the offence. Lee Horsley was arrested and questioned at Halifax police station in September 1998. But he failed to turn up for his trial the following year. Yesterday he was made the subject of a three-year probation order after admitting the offence. Bradford Crown Court heard that Horsley was eventually traced to Blackpool where his barrister, Robin Frieze, said he had been living and working for the last eight years. Last month Horsley was sentenced to 56 days in prison for breaching his bail. The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, was told Horsley had buried his head in the sand but following his arrest had wanted to get the matter sorted out. Mr Frieze said Horsley, who now lives in Litchfield Road, Blackpool, had pleaded guilty to the offence without any indication as to whether the prosecution would still be able to put him on trial. He suggested that the assault on the teemage girl could be treated as “an aberration” in his largely blameless life. Judge Gullick said bearing in mind Horsley’s plea, his relative good character and the time he had now spent in prison for breaching his bail, he could impose a community penalty. Horsley was put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years, was ordered to participate in a sex-offender programme and was also disqualified from working with children indefinitely.