The Crown Prosecution Service is continuing to place a high priority on the investigation and prosecution of historic sexual offences, with reports of new cases regularly hitting the headlines. 

In one recently reported case, a former church minister has been jailed for historical sex offences that were committed between 1985 and 2007.

Robert Dando’s alleged offending came to light after he was arrested by American police for unrelated child sex offences in United States in 2010.

While being interviewed by US investigators, Dando made admissions that he abused children while he was a Baptist minister in the UK. He named some of the victims and the US investigators alerted UK authorities. Police then carried out an extensive investigation and traced yet further victims.

He served seven years of an eight year custodial sentence imposed in the US in 2011. Following his release he returned to the UK and was arrested. He was then charged with multiple offences against boys aged between 10 and 15.

Dando appeared at Oxford Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to the following charges:

• Eight counts of indecent assault on male person, contrary to section 15(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956;
• One count of sexual assault of a child under 13, contrary to section 7(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003; and
• Four counts of sexual activity with a child, contrary to section 9(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

He has now been jailed for nine years and four months.

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