March 2017 Scout leader jailed for sexually abusing girl A SCOUT leader has been jailed after he sexually abused an underage girl at a nature reserve. Tony John Coverdale, 26, will never again be part of the movement that had been such a big part of his life, York Crown Court heard. David Bradshaw, prosecuting, said the two met through scouting activities and he took her to where he thought they would not be seen on the nature reserve. But the reserve’s warden saw the two performing a sex act together and police were called. Coverdale, of Kaye Drive, Osgodby, Selby, admitted sexual activity with a girl and causing or inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and was jailed for 40 months. “This was a vulnerable girl,” Judge Robin Mairs told him. “This has had a deeply profound effect upon her, an effect that may last much longer than the sentence I will pass upon you.” For the rest of his life, Coverdale will be on the sex offenders’ register, subject to a sexual harm prevention order banning him from any unsupervised contact with girls under 16 and contacting the victim in any way. He will also be barred from ever working with or doing voluntary work with children.