A perverted pensioner who repeatedly sexually abused a disabled woman over several years has been jailed.
Graham Harding, 72, from Stockton, had volunteered to give her exercises but he used it to indecently assault her at least once a week.
He visited her with his wife of 50 years but he would send her out of the room to have a cup of tea with the woman’s carers.
Harding only stopped his sickening behaviour when he became too frail and he needed a disability scooter to get around, Teesside Crown Court was told.
He denied the allegations but was convicted at a trial last month.
In a victim impact statement the woman told how the assaults had affected her.
Prosecutor David Lamb said: “She said that Harding told her that because she had this condition she had to put up with him sexually assaulting her in the way that he was.
“She said that she was scared and she did not think that anyone would believe her. She was given counselling and she had suffered flashbacks and had difficulty sleeping.
“Now the case is over she feels a sense of relief and she feels that a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.”
The victim had confided in a woman friend about what was happening, but the friend later died.
She also told a carer who tried not to leave her alone with him when she was on duty.
Mr Lamb said that the Crown listed the aggravating features of the case as involving a breach of trust, a vulnerable victim and offences which went on for years.
Sentencing Harding yesterday the judge said the defendant still maintained he was innocent.
Harding, who parked his scooter outside the courtroom door and walked to the dock on two sticks, repeatedly shook his head in denial as Judge Peter Armstrong described his offences.
Peter Makepeace, defending, said Harding had no previous convictions and he appeared to be a man of previous exemplary conduct for whom 12 people had written glowing references.
He added: “He comes into court on sticks but otherwise he is bound to a disability scooter, and he appears to be entirely dependent emotionally and physically on his wife, and it is an absolutely devastating day for his wife.”
The judge said: “This was unacceptable conduct taking advantage of someone who was extremely vulnerable.
“You now have to pay the penalty for your offending.”
Harding, of Seaham Close, Stockton, was jailed for 27 months and ordered to register as a sex offender for life after he was found guilty of four specimen charges of of sexual assault and one of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
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