Alan West - Not a normal human being

A child abuser whose reign of terror over three children spanned 33 years was jailed for eight years today.

Alan West was 21 when he began abusing his first victim, a court heard.

Prosecutor David Toal said that West, who married twice, abused a girl aged nine and a boy aged six for an extended period, and also an eight-year-old girl.

The court heard he was arrested by police after one of the victims came forward and initially denied the charges, but pleaded guilty to 17 sexual offences when he went on trial.

Judge Roger Thomas QC, commenting on a statement made by one of the victims - now a 44-year-old woman, told Manchester Crown Court: 'She seeks to show and demonstrate the very real evils and long-lasting effects of child sexual abuse.'

He continued: 'In her original statement she put it this way: 'Alan West is walking around scot free and I've been a prisoner for all these years'.'

West has made two suicide attempts and his second wife has left him as a result of the charges, the court heard.

West, of Shakespeare Drive, Cheadle, Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of indecent assault, one count of sexual assault, and three counts of gross indecency with a child.

Judge Thomas, sentencing West to eight years in prison, told him: 'Child sex abuse, which is a menace which comes all too unhappily to light these days, has at its core what we can see in this case, not just terrible conduct at the time it's happening to a young child but the ongoing and often devastating effects over many, many years to adulthood as well.'

West was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life and made the subject of a sex offender's prevention order.

On his release from prison he will serve the remainder of his sentence on licence.

The woman victim, who cannot be identified, was in court to see him sentenced and said: 'He's still a monster. His eyes haunt me. I don't think he is going to change. Prison won't change him, but it will stop him from getting access to other children.

'He's a pervert and he's preyed on innocent children. He is not a normal human being.'

Detective Constable Claire Beach of Greater Manchester Police said: 'The victims found the courage in adulthood to come forward, and thanks to their bravery, his crimes have finally caught up with him and he is where he belongs - in jail.'