In 2020, the Offender Database reported that Keith Pilkington, the Wigan Paedophile Child Molester, commenced a 14-year prison sentence.
In sentencing the then 44-year-old, Judge Graeme Smith remarked: “As is regrettably common in these courts and others nationwide, beneath that facade lay a sinister secret: you were abusing [the girl] over an extended duration.”
“We have heard she was ashamed, embarrassed and scared of what was happening, and therefore she told no one, not even her mother, until a disclosure made by her sister.”
The court heard the girl would probably never have revealed what happened, but decided to come forward after her sister made similar allegations towards Pilkington in 2015.
He was acquitted of charges relating to his sister.
But Keith Pilkington was found guilty of the rape of a child aged 11 to 14, two counts of sexual assault of a child by penetration, and sexual assault.
The offences happened between 2007 and 2011.
The court heard the girl woke up in the night when she was 11 years old to find Pilkington sexually assaulting her.
It continued regularly, even after she started sharing a bedroom with her siblings.
On one occasion, Keith Pilkington got into bed naked with the girl and raped her.
Amanda Johnson, prosecuting, said: “She was in bed at night. She heard the sound of a condom wrapper being opened, which she realised later because she didn’t know what it was at the time.”
The girl managed to push Keith Pilkington off her, and he left.
Miss Johnson said the abuse continued until the girl was 15 or 16, and she did not tell anyone what had happened for several years.
She later confided in her best friend and her boyfriend, before reporting what had happened to the police after her sister’s allegations.
Keith Pilkington, of Barnsley Street, Springfield, denied any inappropriate touching when questioned by police.
Judge Smith imposed a 14-year prison sentence for one count of sexual assault by penetration, with concurrent sentences of seven years for rape, four years for the second count of sexual assault by penetration and two years for sexual assault.
He also handed down a sexual harm prevention order and restraining order, both of which will run indefinitely, and Keith Pilkington must comply with notification requirements.
Judge Smith said Pilkington’s family continues to support him.
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