Man arrested for fight with wife thrown in jail with victim he’d raped 30 years previously

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A father of four arrested after a fight with his wife was also revealed to be a child rapist when he met his victim again after 30 years when they were put in a cell together.

Gary Mottershead had spent over three decades believing he had got away with his crimes committed in the 1980s.

But in 2015 after the 50-year old was detained on suspicion of assaulting his wife, Mottershead was remanded in custody and by chance was sent to the same cell where his victim, now 43, was being held for burglary.

The victim - who cannot be named - at first didn't recognise his cellmate but began to realise he was the paedophile who abused him between 1981 and 1983 and told a prison guard.

In a subsequent statement he made addressing Mottershead directly, the man said: “I have lived with this all my life and kept it a secret. Prison was the last place I expected you to be and I felt I couldn't get away from it.”

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Mottershead, of Sale, Greater Manchester, was jailed for six years after he was convicted by a jury of one count of rape and six counts of sexual assault on a male under the age of 13. He denied wrongdoing.

The assaults occurred when Mottershead was just 15 and had been asked to babysit the victim then aged six whilst his parents went out for the evening. He would ply the boy with cider before coercing him into sexual encounters saying it was their “little secret” and would usher his older sister to her bedroom so that he and the boy could be alone.

Tormented by his childhood experience, the boy, who came from a “respectable family” turned to a life of alcohol, drugs and organised crime, the court heard.

Prosecuting, Mark Kellet told the court: “The defendant was acting as a babysitter and he would give the victim cider before sexually assaulting him. This continued for a period of time and the defendant threatened the boy that if he told anyone he would sexually assault his sister.

“The offences took place between 1981 and 1983 but were not reported by the victim until August 2015 when the defendant was subsequently arrested.”

In mitigation for Mottershead, defence counsel Thomas McKail said: “Until he was convicted by a jury, this defendant had limited experience with the criminal justice system. He was 15 years of age when these offences took place and this was an immature individual.

“He sat only three exams at school and from then on it was a case of on and off employment. He was a sexually curious 15 year-old but it is not suggested that he was targeting the victim, or violent towards him in anyway.

“This offending stopped here and there was no repetition. He is now 50 years of age and has no other sexual offending on record. At the time of these offences he was a 15 year-old and he has worked all through his adult life. There is absolutely no suggestion that this offending was part of a pattern of offending.”

But sentencing Mottershead Judge Timothy Mort told him: “You would arrive at the house with your own music and in addition you used to bring a bottle of drink with you, usually cider. This made you more relaxed and you also gave it to the boy, no doubt to make him feel more relaxed.

“You and he would sit listening to music and you would give him swigs of cider and this would become a regular pattern. You used to make his sister go upstairs to bed even though she was older and you would shut the door on the two of you.

“Once you and he were alone you used to tell him that it was: ‘Our little secret’ and that if he told anyone you would sexually abuse his sister and a pattern of abuse began in which you took control of the situation by telling him what would happen to his sister if he ever told anyone.

“As a little boy he believed that and so said nothing. It was as he got to his teenage years that it dawned on him that this was wrong and he felt ashamed and dirty.

“He was from a respectable family but from the age of 16 he began to go off the rails and I have no doubt that his inability to share what had happened must have played a part in putting him into the wrong group.”

Judge Mort continued: “The use of drugs and alcohol were no doubt to drown out feelings of what you did to him and he then became involved in crime. In 2001 he made admissions that he had been abused as a child and in the 2000's he told his family but swore them to secrecy. He instead carried this burden not knowing how to tell anyone.

“It wasn't until the pair happened to be remanded together when the defendant was arrested for assaulting his wife and the victim was arrested for burglary.

“He didn't recognise you at first but said: ‘I have lived with this all my life and kept it a secret. Prison was the last place I expected you to be and I felt I couldn't get away from it.’ He realised it was time to speak to someone and the prison officer described him as distressed and shaking.

“What you did caused serious emotional distress and has had a bearing on his involvement with crime. You may have been emotionally immature at the time but you were physically mature and you knew that you were there to babysit and you were being paid to do so.

“You knew very well that what you did was wrong, in the way you threatened his sister. This was an abuse of trust situation. This pattern of abuse must have occurred at least 15 if not 20 times. You may have been immature at the time but you were not so immature that you didn't know how to control your victim.”

After the case Det Con Paul Walls of Greater Manchester Police said: “Mottershead’s behaviour was a complete abuse of trust and shows his depravity as a sex offender. The way he acted with a six-year-old boy is absolutely disgraceful and I am so grateful to the victim that he bravely reported Mottershead’s actions so that we could bring him to justice.

“No matter how long it has been since a sexual offence occurred, we take every report seriously and work tirelessly to ensure those responsible face the consequences of their actions.”

Cavendish Press