A former Suffolk man who absconded during his trial at Ipswich Crown Court on a string of child sex charges dating back 40 years has been jailed for 18 years.
Sentencing 68-year-old David Gosling, formerly of Clare, Judge Martyn Levett described the offences as “quite scandalous” and said the offences had a significant and lasting impact on the victim.
Gosling was convicted by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday, October 23 of three offences of indecency with a child, two of indecent assault on a male person and two of buggery.
The offences, which he denied, date back to the 1970s.
In addition to the 18-year jail sentence he was given a one-year extended licence period and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
Gosling absconded during his trial and was arrested in North Wales on Friday and brought back to Suffolk for today’s sentencing hearing.
Mark Smith, for Gosling, said that since leaving Suffolk his client and his wife had been foster carers and there had been no repetition of the offending.
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