CA-2025-001564 - [2025] EWCA Civ 1368

1975 – indecent assault by the grandfather and his brother on two 9-year-old boys and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place. The grandfather was aged 14 at the time of the offences.

1978 – an indecent assault on a female (age not specified). The grandfather was aged 17 at the time of the offence. He was sent for Borstal training.

1984 – an indecent assault on a male under 14 (the victim was aged 10). The grandfather was aged 22 at the time of the offences. He was sentenced to imprisonment for 9 months.

2011 – an allegation by the parent of a female cousin aged 5 or 6 that he and another 12-year-old boy had engaged in abusive sexual activity with that child and her sister in 2006. The uncle denied it and no charges were brought.

2007 – the brother of the above child alleged the uncle had kissed him and attempted to sexually assault him on more than one occasion.

The uncle told Dr Shaun Parsons, the psychologist reporting to the court, that he had touched a boy inappropriately when he was aged 11.

2009 – when the uncle was 14, his school reported that he was making increasingly sexualised comments over a period of months, including a reference to sucking his dad’s penis.

2010 – the school reported that the uncle had touched a disabled 12-year-old boy’s penis in the toilets.

At the same time, the school reported that he had touched a non-verbal female student and had been excluded for bringing a knife into the school.

2015 – a former girlfriend reported that the uncle had raped her in 2013, when she was over 16. The uncle denied it and text messages appeared to substantiate his denial.

At the same time, a police report concerned unlawful sexual intercourse with the ex-girlfriend when she was aged 15 and the uncle was aged 19 or 20. The uncle said that he believed she was 16 and that they did not have sex again until she was. They then had a relationship for several years, which included the uncle living with her in her parents' home.

December 2023 – the school reported a safeguarding concern that a fellow student had reported to his mother that R had licked the child’s penis. R denied any such incident, but said that there had been a group of children in the toilets.

February 2024 – the school recorded that a fellow student had told their parent that R had asked them to lick his penis in the toilets.

There was an issue, which was not resolved, about whether these two records referred to the same event.

April 2024 – the school recorded that R had kissed another child.

May 2024 – the school recorded a concern about a noise made by R in a phonics lesson sounding as if it had sexual undertones.

There were no other reports from R’s school before or after this six-month period.