June 2013 Man jailed over 20 Telford child sex abuse charges A man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of sexually abusing two girls in Shropshire during the 1970s and 80s. Robert David Purcell, 62, of Cleethorpes, was found guilty of 20 separate sexual offences which were said to have taken place in Telford. He was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday. In total he was found guilty of 11 counts of rape, six counts of indecent assault, two counts of indecency with a child and one count of another serious sexual assault. He had pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The jury returned a unanimous verdict on 12 of the counts and a majority verdict on the remaining eight. Judge Robin Onions, sentencing, said: “No sentence I pass can compensate for what your victims have gone through. You stole their childhood for your own sexual predatory.” Detective Constable Steve Parton, said: “I’m very happy with the verdict and pleased justice has finally been served.”