JAILED: York paedophile gets 21 years for raping and abusing 4 girls

George Gore was found guilty by a jury at York Crown Court of a campaign of abuse against the four children.

Gore was convicted of 23 counts of sexual assault and rape against girls, who were all aged under 13 years old. A trial began on Wednesday and by around midday on Friday the jury had unanimously found Gore, of Ordnance Lane, Fulford, guilty on all counts.

There were cheers and shouts of "take him down" in the public gallery as Judge Deborah Sherwin announced Gore's sentences, which add up to 21 years.

After Gore was sentenced, his victims issued a joint statement through North Yorkshire Police, saying: “The last 13 months have been horrendous.

“But after all this time we feel that justice has now been done. Now we want to move on and to be able to live our lives and put this behind us.

“We would like to thank everyone involved in bringing this man to justice, in particular the police, lawyers and family and friends who have supported us.”

York Crown Court

The judge told Gore: "For a large number of years you posed a very great danger. For years you got away with this. By the time you were abusing [the youngest girl] you must have felt invincible. Matters have caught up with you now."

The matters came to light when the youngest girl went to the police, unable to live with the secret of what had happened to her, Judge Sherwin added.

Gore's offences, which occurred at different places in York, included six indecent assaults on the oldest girl; three indecent assaults against the second oldest girl; three indecent assaults against the third oldest girl; and two rapes, eight indecent assaults and one indecency with a child.

The various victims were aged seven to 14 when the offences happened.

Sentences for the crimes against each victim were passed separately, with the longest sentence being 14 years for the rape charges.

He was given four years for the offences against the oldest girl, and 18 months for his offences against each of the other two victims, with the sentences relating to each victim to run consecutively.

In court, prosecutor Philip Standfast read extracts from victims' personal statements, which told of their anguish and pain. All the victims are now adults.

One of the women said she endured "over 40 years of torture, mental torture and stress", while others said they were left feeling guilty they had not been able to stop others suffering the same abuse, felt scared, and suffered long repercussions in their lives.

The youngest of the women said she had been "trapped in her own little world, wondering when the defendant would hurt her again," Mr Standfast added.

In passing sentence, Judge Sherwin said she had to take into account how vulnerable the young girls had been when Gore abused them.

However, she said Gore's age and ill health meant that he would not pose a further danger to the public after his prison sentence.

Children's campaigners have praised the victims for having the courage to come forward and testify against their abuser.

After the sentence, an NSPCC spokesman said: "Gore’s abused his victims when they were still young children which would have had a devastating impact as they were growing up.

"Keeping secrets like this for so long can be a huge weight on children, and it can reverberate into adulthood if proper support isn’t given to help young victims recover.

"Their bravery, not only to come forward, but to endure going through the court process, cannot be understated.

"Gore’s victims had to wait more than two decades before they could get justice, but it is important for all victims to get the justice they deserve, no matter how long ago the offence occurred."