SHAME SHAME
12 YEARS’ JAIL FOR WIDNES CABBIE WHO SEXUALLY ABUSED GIRL HE PAID TO CLEAN HIS FLAT
A taxi driver told a 12-year-old girl he would pay her to clean his flat, but instead exploited the opportunity to sexually abuse her. Robert Gwilliam’s victim was subjected to years of assaults, the paedophile even took pictures of her naked, in return for cash. Liverpool Crown Court heard the youngster began visiting his then home in Widnes “on a regular basis, initially on the premise she would clean for him”. But Louise McCloskey, prose- cuting, said the 67-year-old “took advantage of the situation” - grooming her and sexually abusing her. Gwilliam, now living in Runcorn, assaulted her and forced her to perform sex acts on him. The pensioner took pictures of her exposed breasts on his iPhone, and on one occasion told her to undress and placed pound coins on her naked body. She would “tell him no, but he carried on”, paying her up to £40 per visit.
The schoolgirl eventually con- fided in her PE teacher about the “prolonged and sustained” abuse she had suffered. In a statement read out to the court on her behalf, she described how she was left “really scared” and now slept under the bed as it enables her to feel safe. She added: “I didn’t know what to do or who to talk to - I was petrified about what he would do to me and my family for telling the truth. “I am terrified of bumping into him somewhere. In my nightmares, it’s happening all over again.” Gwilliam has one previous conviction for a “dissimilar matter” in 1981. He attended court in a wheelchair and requires a stick to walk short distances having suffered a stroke in January, which also left him paralysed in his right arm.
Paul Wood, defending, described how his client owned his own glazing business and worked as a taxi driver for 40 years. He added: “The impact of custody will be absolutely massive as far as this defendant is concerned.” Gwilliam admitted six counts of sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two charges of attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child and taking indecent images. He was jailed for 12 years on 14 October and handed an additional year on licence. Sentencing, Judge David Swinnerton said: “Your older years are going to be spent in some disgrace, because you committed terrible offences against a child - repeatedly sexually abusing her. Gwilliam was also handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and a lifelong notification requirement. A restraining order banned him from contacting the girl until further notice, while he was told to pay a victim surcharge.
FIVE LONDON PHV DRIVERS INVOLVED IN PEOPLE SMUGGLING OPERATION APPEAR IN COURT
Five London PHV drivers charged with people smuggling offences have appeared in court. The charges follow a National Crime Agency (NCA) probe, code- named Operation Symbolry, into a London-based gang involved in smuggling migrants in and out of the UK using lorries. The five men, aged between 40 and 52 and all living in east
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London, appeared at Barkingside Magistrates Court. Alauddin Ahmad, 49, is charged with five counts of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration. Ahknu Hussain, 48, is charged with four counts of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration. Amran Hussain, 40, Fozol Miah, 41 and Kaysor Miah, 52, are charged with one count of conspiring to
facilitate illegal immigration. They have all been bailed to appear before Snaresbrook Crown Court at a later date. They
are accused of moving
migrants to and from rendezvous points with HGVs which would then be used to smuggle them across the Channel. A number of the lorries were later intercepted by the NCA.
NOVEMBER 2022 PHTM
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