Abuse man is jailed

Saturday 28th November 2009, 3:00PM GMT.

Ronald Thorne going into the court building

THE fourth man charged in the historical child abuse inquiry Ronald George Thorne (71) was jailed for a year yesterday for acts of gross indecency with a boy 25 years ago.

The Royal Court heard from Crown Advocate Stephen Baker that Thorne, who admitted the two offences, carried out the second offence despite the boy, who was aged between 11 and 14 at the time of the offences, having refused to comply with the first offence.

Thorne has a previous conviction for sexual offences against children for which he served an 18 month prison sentence.

Before announcing the court’s sentence, the Bailiff Michael Birt said that unless there were exceptional circumstances, custodial sentences would be given to those who committed sexual offences against children.

• Full report in today’s Jersey Evening Post

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