R v Taylor (Derek)
Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
Judge | LORD JUSTICE LAWTCN |
Judgment Date | 04 March 1977 |
Judgment citation (vLex) | [1977] EWCA Crim J0304-1 |
Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
Docket Number | No. 989/B2/77 No. 1060/B2/77 |
Date | 04 March 1977 |
[1977] EWCA Crim J0304-1
Lord Justice Lawton
Mr. Justice MacKenna
and
Mr. Justice Gibson
No. 989/B2/77
No. 1025/B2/77
No. 1060/B2/77
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
MR. J.D. WILCOX appeared for the Applicants.
On the 18th February, 1977, in the Crown Court at Nottingham, these Applicants each pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl, who, at the material time, was fourteen years of age. The Applicant David Eric Roberts was sentenced to two months' imprisonment, Geoffrey Simons to four months' imprisonment and Derek Roy Taylor also to four months' imprisonment. The offences can be described as sample offences, as each of them, in written statements, admitted that they had had sexual intercourse on many occasions with the girl. Each of the Applicants now applies for leave to appeal against sentence.
The circumstances of this case are very disturbing. The offences occurred in an industrial part of Nottinghamshire, which we do not feel it necessary to name. The area was typical industrial Nottinghamshire countryside, mining villages, industrial works with country in between. The girl was undoubtedly a wanton. She was very experienced in sexual matters before she ever met any of these Applicants. She kept a diary in which she recorded her sexual exploits with some degree of particularity and, if she was telling the truth, she was experienced in sexual matters before she was fourteen years of age. According to the girl, she met the Applicant Roberts about six weeks before her fourteenth birthday. Roberts does not accept that that was so. He admits to having met her about two or three months after her fourteenth birthday. According to Roberts, she made approaches to him. At first he rejected them but, after a time, he accepted her approaches and they committed intercourse on many occasions. He took no contraceptive measures other than to indulge in coitus interruptus. The sexual intercourse between Roberts and the girl went on over a period of months.
During the time she was having sexual intercourse regularly with Roberts, she made approaches to the Applicant Simons. He started having sexual intercourse with her. He knew all about her because she lived opposite the yard from which he carried on an asphalting business. He accepted, first, that he knew how old she was and, secondly, that he knew she was going to a nearby school.
The Applicant Taylor was employed by Simons. He must have known what was going on between the Applicant Simons and the girl because it is part of his case that she was, from time to time, frequenting the yard where he worked, and was sent away on occasions by the men working there.
According to the girl, in the course of her sexual activities with all three Applicants, there was masturbation and what has come these days to be called "oral sex". Roberts and Simon have never admitted that there was any oral sex. For the purposes of this application we accept that there was no oral sex on their part. Taylor, however, has admitted in his statement that there was oral sex between him and this fourteen year old girl.
Some of the Applicants had been in minor trouble with the law before, but we are prepared to treat them as men of hitherto good character. Roberts is a married man. We accept that after he had decided to marry his present wife he severed his sexual connection with the girl. Taylor is a married man. The social enquiry report seems to indicate that at a time when his wife was pregnant he was having sexual intercourse with this girl. When his wife discovered what had been going on, she was very upset, as well she might have been. It says a great deal for her that she has now become reconciled to her husband. Simons is a bachelor.
It has been the unpleasant task of this Court to approach this case in a realistic manner. As I have already said, the girl was a wanton. Some of her activities in the way of oral sex show the extent to which she had become debauced almost certainly before she met these three Applicants. There has not, in this case, been any suggestion at all that any one of these three corrupted the girl; but there was no affection between any one of these three men and the girl. What they were doing was treating her as the village whore; that was their only interest in the girl. They were getting their sexual gratification with a girl aged fourteen. Two of them knew her age and knew that she was going to school. Roberts may not have known as much about her as the other two.
It was submitted before the trial Judge, and the submission was repeated in this. Court, that the fact that these men were having sexual intercourse with this girl in circumstances which I have described lessens the gravity of the offences. Clearly, the Court must not approach this case on the basis of corruption. On the other hand, what these three men were doing was to continue the debauching of the girl, knowing how young she was. This is not a case, in respect of any one of these three Applicants, of a man who has approaches made to him by a wanton girl, succumbs to her approaches, has sexual intercourse with her and regrets it afterwards. That is a fairly common type of case in our courts, but it is...
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