March 2014 Paedophile security guard from Dudley loses conviction appeal A security guard who raped and sexually abused girls as young as seven over a 30-year period has had an appeal against his convictions turned down. Paedophile Mark Henry Allen, aged 72, gave the impression of being a trustworthy public custodian in his security officer’s uniform, while living a secret life for more than three decades. Allen, of Hillside Road, Dudley, was jailed for 13 years at Wolverhampton Crown Court in March 2009 after being convicted of sex crimes against three underage victims, including rape and indecent assault. Yesterday at the Criminal Appeal Court in London, he asked Lady Justice Rafferty, Mr Justice Royce and Judge Simon Tonking to overturn his convictions. He argued that he didn’t receive a fair trial. The court heard that, whilemaintaining a veneer of respectability in public, Allen began abusing little girls as young as five secretly in the 1970s. He was stopped in 2006 after one of his victims went to the authorities. He denied any wrongdoing but was found guilty on numerous charges. Lawyers for Allen argued that the jury which convicted him should have been given a modified good character direction – pointing out that he had no previous convictions for sex crimes. It was submitted that the failure of the judge to do so had deprived Allen of ‘an important shield’ in his attempt to deny the charges. But Lady Justice Rafferty threw out his complaints and said Allen’s criticism of his trial lawyers was unwarranted. She also said that the fairness of the jury’s verdicts had in no way been compromised. “There is nothing in this application and it is dismissed,” the appeal judge concluded.