April 2002 Man jailed over teenage parties A man has been jailed and put on the Sex Offenders register after allowing his caravan to be used for teenage sex, drink and drugs parties. Richard Pearce, 59, admitted encouraging girls as young as 11 to drink, smoke cannabis and stay the night at his home on a Wiltshire farm. Swindon Crown Court heard that lorry driver Pearce had also videotaped the young girls wandering around his two-bedroomed caravan in “a state of undress”. Prosecuting barrister Susan Evans said from the early 1990s to 2001 when Pearce was arrested, groups of between two and 10 teenage girls, some with their boyfriends, regularly used the van at Kington Langley near Chippenham. The court heard how Pearce had sometimes slept with the girls and touched them. The court was told Pearce would obtain vodka and cider for the teenagers and allow cannabis to be smoked. He would also run the teenagers to and from local nightclubs and lend them large sums of money. He admitted to police he would regularly kiss and cuddle the girls but said he was just affectionate and being fatherly. Defending barrister Paul Orton said Pearce had now realised what he did was wrong. “The problem with Mr Pearce is that, like a lot of people of his age who think they have not got older, he still thinks of himself as 21 and cannot accept he is almost 60. Worldly-wise “He must accept that,” he said. Mr Orton said just because the girls were involved in sexual activity with their boyfriends did not mean he could be involved. But he said the girls had taken advantage of his good nature, even using the van when he was not there. Pearce admitted five counts of indecent assault and admitted one of allowing cannabis to be smoked on his premises. He was jailed for a year in total – 12 months for each assault and three months for the cannabis charge, to be served concurrently. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register. Judge Peter Thomas said: “You were no love-struck teenager, but a man approaching 60 years of age who had abused these girls, some of whom you had known for many years.”