Ex-county man jailed for sex abuse

A 69-year-old former Shropshire man has been jailed for 15 years after being convicted of a series of sexual offences against girls in Jersey.

Claude Donnelly, 69, was sentenced at the island’s Royal Court.

The offences relate to an inquiry into abuse of children on the island, but not connected to alleged offences at Haut de la Garenne children’s home.

In the first trial, which ended on May 21, Donnelly, of St Brelade, Jersey, and originally from Bishop’s Castle, was convicted of one count of rape and three of indecent assault against a girl aged between 12 and 13, which took place in Jersey between 1980 and 1982.

In the second trial, which ended on June 18, he was convicted of 10 counts of indecent assault, four counts of rape and one count of procuring an act of gross indecency. The counts relate to offences that took place in Jersey between 1968 and 1973 against a girl aged between eight and 14.

He was jailed for 15 years for the repeated rapes in the first trial, as well as six years for each indecent assault and commissioning her to carry out an act of gross indecency, eight years for the rape in the second trial and three years for each indecent assault, to run concurrently.

Commissioner Sir Christopher Pitchers, sentencing, said: “These were very serious offences and they can only be met by a substantial period of imprisonment.”

He said the case showed the consequences of child abuse go much further than those caused at the time.