December 2007 Man jailed for sex offences against girls A man found guilty of sex offences against three girls has been jailed for seven years. Mark William Morris, 37, showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down by Judge Phillip Richards at Cardiff Crown Court, where a jury had convicted him a month ago. He looked straight ahead as the judge told him: “People are rightly horrified by such offences and the girls’ lives have been very much affected.” Morris of Gurnos, Merthyr Tydfil, had denied the allegations, forcing his victims to have to give evidence and be cross- examined. They told the court he had touched them indecently, incited them to touch him and performed sex acts on himself in front of one of them. Some of the charges dated back to when Morris was a teenager. He told police when he was eventually arrested in January this year that none of it was true. But Leighton Hughes, prosecuting, said at the start of the trial: “Their accounts are compelling, consistent and detailed.” Morris was cleared of one charge of rape but found guilty of indecent assault and inciting a child into sexual activity. His name will be on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period.