David Myers of Cayton jailed for sexually abusing young girls in the 70s and 80s

David Roy Myers, 67, appeared for all the world to be the perfect family man but hid his dark secret for up to five decades while his victims endured the devastating mental scars he caused through years of abuse.

Myers, a father-of-two, groomed and sexually abused the four young girls at properties in Scarborough in the early 1970s and 80s, York Crown Court heard.

But it wasn’t until 2017 that the first victim came forward to police, followed by others in 2018 and earlier this year.

Myers, who was in his twenties at the time of his wicked offences, was first questioned by police in November 2017 but denied the allegations. He was grilled again in May 2018 and February this year but maintained he was innocent, claiming he had never had any sexual attraction to children.

He was charged with 13 counts of sexual abuse including indecent assault, sexual assault of a child under 13 years of age and raping a young woman at a property in Scarborough in the early 1970s.

The charges related to a multitude of offences over a period of about 10 years.

During Myers’s week-long trial, which ended on Friday, his victims - now middle-aged - had to relive their “nightmare” experiences.

Myers claimed he had never abused any of the victims, but a jury found him guilty of 10 of the 13 sexual or indecent-assault charges and not guilty of two. He was also acquitted of the rape charge.

Prosecutor Soheil Khan said the victims were all under-age when Myers “isolated” and abused them.

The first victim was targeted at a property in Scarborough when Myers touched her on an intimate area. The victim said this happened on about four occasions.

The second victim, an under-age teen, “jumped back in shock” after Myers sexually assaulted her on a landing.

The third victim, who was even younger, was sexually assaulted on “many” occasions over a period of months after she had been groomed by Myers.

She spoke of being “ridiculously frightened”, particularly on one occasion when he had hold of her.

“She screamed for him to let go, which he did,” added Mr Khan.

After abusing her, Myers is said to have told her: “This is our little secret. It’s nice, isn’t it?”

She had “found it hard throughout her life” ever since the abuse and her teenage years were “extremely difficult”.

Myers, now of Green Park Avenue, Cayton, began abusing the fourth victim in the early 1980s and subjected her to a torrid, “sustained” ordeal.

The pre-teen girl was repeatedly abused at a property in Scarborough and sometimes in Myers’s car.

Myers would grab hold of her and sexually assault her, during which he would say: “I’m only having fun.”

Mr Khan said the victim had experienced “many emotions over the years”, started self-harming in her late teens and “spent years blaming herself”.

“She kept it all to herself until her thirties (when she told family members about the abuse),” added Mr Khan.

“She felt powerless, like no-one could help her. She described her experience as a nightmare.”

In a moving victim statement, she said she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, adding: “It has affected me physically, emotionally and mentally. I seem confident but inside I’m still that child being abused.”

The court heard that the victim “went to pieces” following the abuse.

Defence barrister Simon Reevell reminded the court that the offences happened “many decades ago”.

Judge Simon Hickey told Myers that he had “devastated lives” and his terrible crimes had had a lifelong effect on the victims.

Myers was jailed for 11-and-a-half years, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence. He was ordered to serve an extended, two-year licence period upon his eventual release.

He was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order, which will also be in effect for the rest of his life.