August 2023 Vile sexual and physical abuse of a child The victim of vile sexual and physical cruelty as a child described the abuse she suffered as a ‘tattoo for all to see’. The woman was in court on Monday (August 14) to see now 80-year-old Lionel Wood finally face justice for his years of abuse, committed when she was a child some four decades ago in Banbury. In June, jurors at Oxford Crown Court heard how he repeatedly molested the girl, including subjecting her to what now would have been charged as oral rape of a child. He was found guilty in less than an hour and a quarter of four counts of indecent assault. In an impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Brian Reece, the victim said her earliest memories were of being physically and sexually abused by a man she ‘should have been able to trust’. She described the abuse as making her feel like ‘damaged goods’, comparing it to a tattoo ‘for all to see’. “It’s something you can’t hide from,” she said. The woman detailed how she had struggled with physical ill-health, difficulties with self-destructive substance misuse, depression, suicidal thoughts and a series of abusive relationships. “[The defendant] made me feel intense fear, humiliation, like a possession to be controlled and used at will,” she said. The girl was molested while she was alone with the defendant. The abuse developed, with the girl subjected to what would now have been charged as oral rape of a child but at the time was an offence called indecent assault. In her impact statement, the victim detailed an awful catalogue of physical abuse at Wood’s hands, although he faced no criminal charges for physically assaulting the girl. Recorder Samantha Presland jailed him for 14 years, telling the defendant: “What should have been happy childhood memories have been completely and utterly distorted.” He will serve two-thirds of the sentence in custody before being eligible for release. The judge imposed an indefinite restraining order, preventing Wood, of Broadway, Worcestershire, from contacting his victim for the rest of his life. Having been jailed for 14 years, he will also remain on the sex offender register indefinitely. June 2023 ‘Violent and manipulative’ paedophile convicted of multiple sexual offences against girl in Banbury A ‘violent and manipulative’ paedophile has been convicted of multiple sexual offences against a girl in Banbury. Lionel Wood, aged 80, of Didbrook End, Broadway, Worcestershire, was found guilty by a unanimous jury verdict of five counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 following a four-day trial at Oxford Crown Court. The charges relate to a string of offences that occurred from 1980-1984 Wood was arrested on January 26 last year and was charged the following June. Wood has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on August 14.