Prolific paedophile jailed for life

A grandfather who kept a video record of a campaign of sex attacks on girls aged as young as three has been jailed for life.Anthony Barron, 54, was found guilty of the rape and attempted rape of a 12-year-old girl having already pleaded guilty to 87 offences against 11 children in a catalogue of abuse spanning nine years.The 89 crimes included 27 indecent assaults, 11 sexual assaults and five charges of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.The charges included two counts of indecency with a child, three attempted rapes and one of serious sexual assault. He is also guilty over 37 counts of making indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing an indecent photograph.Barron was given a minimum term of nine yars before he can apply for parole and must spend his life on the sex offenders' register.The offences reflected a "pattern of behaviour", said Judge Julian Hall, that showed the defendant as a "predatory and plausible paedophile who totally abused the trust" of the families he befriended.Barron, from Grove, Wantage, lured children to play at his home with toys and games and then bribed them not to say what happened to them with sweets and ice lollies.When police raided his home they found a stash of toys suitable for children from the age of two.Oxford Crown Court heard how he would befriend the parents through roles at primary schools, youth clubs and cub groups persuading them to allow their children to stay at his house.Once the children were there he would groom them into allowing him to abuse them in front of a video camera.Officers were able to make a comprehensive list of his offences by identifying the children on the video tapes.In some instances other children can be heard in another room and on one occasion, the court heard, the child's mother was elsewhere in the house unaware of what was happening.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | August 30, 2007

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