March 2017 Child rapist jailed for 23 years A child rapist has been jailed for 23 years after he groomed a vulnerable 11-year-old girl at dance classes before having sex with her. Richard “Tricky” Walby, 48, met the girl at the classes and first sexually assaulted her when she was 11 – before having sex with her when she was 12-years-old. He also plied her with alcohol ‘to make her more compliant’ and abused the girl for two years. Walby was found guilty by a jury of three counts of indecent assault, four counts of gross indecency with a girl under 14, three counts of having sex with a child under 13 and five rapes. Truro Crown Court heard the crimes related to two different victims over two separate time periods. The rapes of the adult woman took place in Cornwall and Essex between January 2000 and April 2004 The court heard Walby, most recently of Uxbridge in Middlesex, targeted the first victim in the 1990s. He first assaulted her when she was aged 11 before having sex with her when she was 12 and he was in his mid twenties. Walby met the girl at dance classes. it and not only did you groom her, you plied her with alcohol to make her more compliant. “The first rape happened when the victim was 12 and the abuse carried on over a period of two years.” Judge Carr described the effect of the crimes on the girl as “devastating” and said that she has made several attempts to take her own life. Judge Carr added that Walby saw sex as his right. Walby was sentenced to 23 years in prison, with a further year to be served on licence, and told he must sign the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.