Tuesday, February 24, 2015

UK Man Sentenced For Kenya Child Abuse


Simon Harris was convicted of abusing vulnerable young Kenyan street children (West Mercia Police/PA)

A former public school teacher convicted of abusing vulnerable street children while living in Africa will be sentenced by a British court today. Charity boss Simon Harris was convicted by jurors at Birmingham Crown Court in December after victims' evidence was heard via a video-link to Kenya.

Media reports that the 55-year-old Harris, described by police as a prolific and calculating sexual predator, had denied luring boys to his home near Gilgil, Kenya, between 2002 and 2013 using food, money and the promise of schooling.


But jurors convicted Harris, of Pudleston near Leominster in Herefordshire, of three indecent assaults, five sexual assaults and four charges of possessing indecent images of children.

However, he was acquitted of 10 other sex offences, including four of child rape and two of attempted rape.

In order to bring Harris to justice, prosecutors used a little-known section of legislation giving English courts jurisdiction to try offences carried out by Britons abroad.

Harris's eight-week trial was told that he spent 15 months in a British jail for possession of indecent images of children following a 2009 conviction.
Jurors also heard how he had admitted six counts of sexual assault against three teenage pupils at a school in Devon where he taught Latin during the 1980s.

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