A 64-year-old Harrogate man has been jailed for over 20 years for a catalogue of child sex offences.

Elwyn Taylor, of Skipton Road, sexually abused three young children between 1996 and 2006 when he was in his 30s and 40s.

At York Crown Court in February, a jury found him guilty of 11 separate offences including indecency with a child, indecent assault on a male person and sexual assault of a child under 13 years of age.

The offences, which occurred over a 10-year period, were against two young girls and a boy.

The jury were unable to reach verdicts on four other charges including indecency with a child, two counts of indecent assault and rape of a girl under 13 years of age. They found Taylor not guilty of one other count of indecently assaulting one of the girls.

Taylor, formerly of Ripon, appeared for sentence today (April 7) after being remanded in custody.

Nick Adlington, prosecuting, said the boy was sexually abused in the late 1990s when he was indecently assaulted by Taylor.

One of the girls was abused between 2000 and 2002 when she was subjected to “numerous” sexual assaults.

Taylor would make the girl touch his private parts and told her he would “teach” her how to perform a lewd act on him.

He also “taught” the other girl about sexual matters and went on to sexually abuse her.

Mr Adlington said the girl “struggled with her mental health in the ensuing years due to that sexual abuse” which occurred in the Harrogate area.

Denied charges

Taylor was finally charged with the allegations in January 2024 but denied all the charges including six counts of indecently assaulting one of the young girls and three counts of sexually assaulting the other girl.

One of the female victims said that Taylor’s heinous acts had “destroyed” her childhood and had also “stolen my adulthood”.

The male victim said he had since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Prosecuting barrister Mr Adlington said that Taylor had previous convictions for “dishonesty” offences from the 1980s and 90s.

Defence barrister Susannah Proctor said that before being remanded in custody, Taylor had been a carer for his partner who had serious health conditions.

Judge Simon Hickey said that Taylor’s catalogue of sexual offending had caused “lifelong damage” to the victims.

Taylor was jailed for 21-and-a-half years and was told he must serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.

He was also ordered to serve an extended two-year period on prison licence upon his eventual release from prison, at which point he would likely be in his late 70s.

He was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order to limit his contact with children.

None of the victims can be named for legal reasons.