Jail for paedophile lorry driver who was allowed to jet off to Greece while on bail for sickening child abuse

Barnsley man, Matthew Thompson, 48, pleaded guilty to assaulting a child under 13 by penetration, sexual assault of a child, sexual activity with a child and taking indecent photographs of a child. But despite his “serious offending”, a judge allowed him to jet off on a two-week holiday to the sunshine island of Kos before receiving his lengthy jail term.

The trip abroad was not mentioned during Thompson’s sentence hearing at Bradford Crown Court last Friday, and it is understood he never went on the vacation. Thompson’s offending, which dates back almost a decade and took place in West Yorkshire, involved two girls who must not be identified for legal reasons.

Prosecutor David McGonigal said Thompson had used a sex toy on one girl and repeatedly had sex with the second after he’d given her alcohol and drugs. Recorder James Baird heard moving victim impact statements in which the complainants described the devastating effects of the abuse on them.

Recorder Baird said Thompson, who has previous convictions for sexual offences, was described in a pre-sentence report as “a predatory male with a sexual interest in children”. He said Thompson had been hiding that interest over the period of the abuse and had been preying on two vulnerable young girls.

Recorder Baird said Thompson had started by bullying and grooming his first victim to satisfy his own sexual desires.

He said: “You would give her money to curry favour with her and if she did not do what she was told to do she would be punished.” Recorder Baird said Thompson would even put the girl in a pair of stockings to gratify his own sexual needs.

Thompson, who now has to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, was jailed for a total of 15 years and 10 months. But the judge added an extra year of prison licence onto his sentence because he was classed as “an offender of particular concern”.

Barrister Gillian Batts, for Thompson, said it was very rare for a defendant facing such allegations to enter guilty pleas. She said: “It is an acknowledgement from the defendant, by virtue of his guilty pleas, that these things happened and the victims are telling the truth about what happened to them.”

“The victims did not have to give evidence and did not have to go through the process of being cross-examined and inevitably being called liars,” she added.