Swansea child rapist, 86, spared jail due to age and ill-health

An 86-year-old child rapist would have gone to jail for a very long time had he been a well man, a judge has said.

Derek Desmond Butt carried out more than 200 sex attacks on a young boy over a seven- year period, Swansea Crown Court heard.

But because the pensioner has dementia, he was deemed unfit to face a full trial and instead underwent a “trial of facts” – with the jury later finding 21 allegations proven.

Recorder John Phillips, who only had three sentencing options available, placed Butt on the sex offenders register as well as issuing a two-year supervision order.

He told Butt: “You are now 86 and, in the twilight of your life, you’ve lost your good name.

“These are wicked, serious matters.

“If you’d been fit to stand trial and convicted … you would have been going to prison for a long time.”

Previously, jurors heard that the ordeal of Butt’s young victim began in 2006 and lasted until 2013.

They heard that the pensioner regularly turned up at the youngster’s house to offer his mother a break by taking her son out to the park or arcade.

However, the boy was instead taken to Butt’s house to be abused before being taken out for ice cream as a “treat”.

The child’s mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had no clue that her son was being abused by a man whom she “completely trusted”.

She told an earlier hearing: “My son later told me he kept quiet for so long because he thought it was normal as it had been happening to him from such a young age.”

The court heard that an absolute discharge would have been “inappropriate” to deal with the case – while a judge felt a hospital order would not be necessary given that Butt now lives in a care home.

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