A MAN in his forties is today serving a three-year sentence after the crimes he committed as a 17-year-old caught up with him.

A woman told York Crown Court how every aspect of her life for 30 years had been affected by what David Gary Knights, now 49, did to her when she was nine-years-old.

“I shall never forgive this man,” she said in a letter to court. Last month, a York jury convicted him of three offences of indecent assault.

Jailing him for three years, the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC told Knights: “You were perfectly well aware of what you were doing. You took advantage of the situation you found yourself in and you, in relation to that child, threatened her after you had sexually assaulted her.”

Knights, of Jacobi Close, York, had denied the charges. In addition to the sentence, he was made subject indefinitely to a sexual harm prevention order forbidding him from contacting the woman in any way and will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.

His barrister Geraldine Kelly said apart from making false representations and a shoplifting offence some years ago, he had not committed any crimes since the indecent assaults, which were the only sex crimes on his record.

He had been hardworking throughout his life and probation officers had assessed the risk of him committing more sexual crimes as “low”.

In her letter to the judge, the woman said: “I have been changed forever in every part of life.”

She described how she was nervous of being touched by anyone, didn’t like to be in the company of men she didn’t know and was nervous if anyone approached her or her children.

As a result, her own daughter had been unable to engage in the type of activities other girls did.

She praised her partner for the patience she said had enabled their long-term relationship to continue.