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12
Aug
‘Calculating’ former Harrogate DJ jailed for historic child sex abuse
A “cunning and calculating” former Harrogate DJ has been jailed for over four years for sexually abusing a teenage boy in the 1990s.
Adrian Phipps, 66, was a volunteer disc jockey at Harrogate Hospital Radio Station when he sexually assaulted the boy at a property in the town.
He was accused of eight counts of indecently assaulting the under-age boy and found guilty of two of those charges at York Crown Court following a week-long trial in July. The jury acquitted him of the six other allegations.
On the day of trial, he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child relating to another boy with whom the former DJ had been having sex chats online.
The two incidents of which he was found guilty occurred at a property in Harrogate in the mid-1990s when Phipps was in his mid-to-late thirties. None of the offences were connected to the infirmary nor his role at the hospital.
Phipps, of Station View, Harrogate, appeared for sentence today (August 12) when judge Simon Hickey labelled the former DJ a “cunning and calculating man” whose wicked acts had a “monumental” effect on the victim whose life had been ruined.
Prosecutor Abigail Langford said that Phipps used his charisma, cunning and “joviality” to ingratiate himself with the boy.
She said that Phipps “became known in the community” due to his colourful character and approached the victim in a “light-hearted manner” before sexually assaulting him.
“(The victim) tried to stop him but (Phipps) persisted until he got his own way,” added Ms Langford.
Phipps, who was known in the local community as “a bit of a joker”, was also accused of sexually assaulting the boy in secluded woods next to playing fields in Harrogate but was acquitted of those allegations.
It wasn’t until 2021 that the victim, now an adult struggling with serious mental health issues, made “partial” disclosures to those close to him about what had happened to him as a child.
Following his abuser’s arrest in October 2021, Phipps’s home was searched by police who seized his mobile phone. Forensic officers found dozens of indecent photos and videos of another teenage boy on his phone. Those offences occurred between 2019 and 2020.
The images had been sent to Phipps by the boy whom he had “engaged in online sexual conversation”.
Phipps was brought in for questioning in February 2022 and made vehement denials about the allegations of sexual assault in Harrogate, claiming that his accuser had “made it up”.
'You have an unhealthy and illegal interest in young children'
In a statement read out by the prosecution, the victim of the sexual assaults said that Phipps’s heinous acts had had a “monumental effect” on him and had “changed his life”.
He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had feelings of “self-loathing” and even an inexplicable “guilt”.
Defence barrister David Ward said that Phipps, who still denied the offences, had self-proclaimed learning difficulties and had lately been living in assisted accommodation.
“At the time (of the offences) he was providing a service to the community, working in a hospital radio and trying to lead a productive life,” added Mr Ward.
He claimed that Phipps had a “very low IQ” and had lost his accommodation due to the offences coming to light.
However, judge Mr Hickey rubbished any suggestion that Phipps was a vulnerable man himself.
He told the defendant:
I heard the trial and the assessment I made of you when you gave evidence is you’re not vulnerable at all: you are a cunning and calculating man and you behaved that way…when you targeted this young man.
You knew he was on his own and it’s had a marked effect on that man’s life. There are three dense pages of his (victim-impact) statement showing how much his life has been affected.
He says it has affected him throughout his life…and he has not been able to approach any semblance of normalcy.
You were planning this, waiting for an opportunity…and you approached (the victim) in this ‘jokey’ way. As the boy said, he knew it was wrong, but he could do nothing about it.
He tried to stop you, but you persisted, and you got your own way as you were determined to do.
Sadly, like many victims of sexual offences, not only has it blighted his life, but he says he feels guilt himself.
The judge said that Phipps had “undoubtedly” used grooming behaviour to abuse the boy.
He said the indecent images on Phipps’s phone “confirmed my judgement that you have an unhealthy and illegal interest in young children”.
Phipps was jailed for four years and four months and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life.
Phipps was also issued a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and placed on the permanent barred list, prohibiting him from ever working with children. The judge further ordered the forfeiture and destruction of his phones and the images they contained.
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