Victim of Wigan paedophile kept painful secret to protect her family

Ronald Peters, of Petticoat Lane in Ince, was sentenced at a hearing at Bolton Crown Court after being found guilty of two assaults by penetration dating back to 1978.

His 53-year-old victim, who was 13 at the time of the assaults, wept in court as her tormentor was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his perverted crimes.

Judge Richard Gioserano, who presided over Peters’ first trial back in November - when he was found guilty for two child sex abuse charges and his retrial in July, when he was found not guilty of three other sex abuse charges - told the pensioner that he would be facing “up to 10 years” had he committed the offences today.

The court heard how Peters had carried out the deplorable acts on a night back in 1978, as she slept alone in a spare bedroom after looking after his children while he went out drinking with his wife. Sentencing comments from Judge Gioserano highlighted the seedy details of his crime.

He said: “You indecently assaulted her in her bed as your wife and children slept.

“You put your hand over her mouth and told her to be quiet. You did this for your own distorted sexual gratification without a thought for the harm it would cause her.

“She felt she had done something wrong. She decided she had to keep it a secret. She lived as best she could with that secret.”

He carried out a decade-long campaign of abuse against her, often speaking to her sexually, touching her leg and moving his tongue in a “horrible and perverted way” if he caught her eye.

“You obviously got some pleasure from your continued sexual behaviour towards her,” added the judge. “It compounded the harm you had done to her.”

In an interview with the Wigan Post, the victim - who now has two grown children of her own- explained that the incident has affected every aspect of her life, from her health to her employment and relationships with other people.

“It was a secret that I was keeping from my family,” she said. “If I didn’t carry on visiting them my parents would have asked why I had suddenly stopped so I had to carry on like everything was normal when it was eating me up inside.

“What he has put me through is absolute hell. He made me out to be a liar in court and has brought everything back.

“He was so clever the way he did it. At Christmas I remember he would wait until I was coming in from the car alone, and kiss me - but he put his tongue in my mouth and squeezed my bottom.”

“It made me feel dirty and so so wrong.”

Peters was sentenced to two 18-month custodial sentences for each crime to run concurrently. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.