By Tim Parsons-

A 101-year-old man has gone on trial accused of several historical sexual offenses.

The man, who is over a century old is the oldest man in British history to be on trial, let alone a sexual abuse trial. Our contact is Birmingham, who brought this case to our attention said : ”you will love this one. This guy over a 100 years is on trial for sexual abuse, but must be on trial for his life too.

We must hope he does not die on trial, he has done well to live this long, but not so well o end up in court”. Let’s hope he is innocent shall we, he can’t survive prison, can he”?

Ralph Clarke entered not guilty pleas in June to 31 offences alleged to have been committed between 1974 and 1983 against three children., 33 and 42 years ago when he was already an old man

The pensioner from Erdington denies 17 indecent assaults, 12 offences of indecency with a child and two attempted serious sexual offences.

Clarke’s trial at  Birmingham Crown Court is scheduled to last up to two weeks.

Clarke is accused of abusing a boy he took on long journeys, including trips to Morecombe, Lancashire, Middlesborough and Scotland, when the victim slept in the cab. He is also alleged to have sexually assaulted him in the shed.

When interviewed Clarke, she said, admitted what went on in the lorry and that he “knew it was wrong”.

Clarke is said to have admitted touching the other girl in an intimate way but sclaims it was to “comfort” her.

 

Age Not a Barrier

Age is no barrier to being tried as long as the trial is fair and the evidence is clear, jurors hearing the case have been told.

Clarke is already aware of the allegations against him and has already admitted some of them, the prosecutor for the state, Ms Moore told a shocked court.”He simply does not want to do that in court.That is the matter you are going to have to decide, ” she said.

 

‘You have to remember not just that the defendant is 101 but when he did these things he was a young and strong man and these were children, “she said. She is wrong and clearly bad at maths.The defendant was 83 and 79 at the time, but age is no barrier, so we will stick with that.

She said the second female victim was also abused in the lorry cab and he would give her 10p or 20p to buy sweets.

 

Ms Moore claimed Clarke made some admissions when he was interviewed by the police in this case.Miss Moore told the court that the victims were motivated to report the abuses only when the defendant became 100, and people were saying good things about him that the complainants were “tipped over the edge.”

They felt it was about time that they did something about it, she said.Justice Bond- the sitting judge in this shocking historic case appealed to the court to be patient because of the defendant’s age. Clarke’s health and physical condition at a 101  is such that he needs more breaks than somebody much younger than him requires. ”He has to be able to follow the trial”, the judge said.

No problem your honour, will all be patient. We want to see how this one goes.

 

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• Date
  5th December 2016