Yorkshire former soldier jailed for sexually abusing his own sister and then trying to 'victim blame'

Graham Stanley Jones, 58, of Linton-on-Ouse near York, put his younger sister through an ordeal that her family claim began when she was eight years old and ended with an attack on her in 2016 which led to her reporting him to police.

The former Army driver's abuse contributed to what Carol Nelson's family believe was her premature death from a heart attack in 2020, aged just 52, and her daughter and sisters have pushed for the prosecution since she passed away.

Jones initially denied the four charges but later changed his plea to guilty in relation to the most recent at Teesside Crown Court, with three historic counts of sexual assault allowed to lie on file.

On January 28 he was jailed for six years and ordered to sign the sexual offenders' register for life.

Jones' last attack took place at the victim's home in Redcar in October 2016, two months before he was jailed for a year at York Crown Court after being found guilty of dangerous driving for driving a bus full of Easingwold School pupils into deep flood water the previous winter. He had denied the offence despite overwhelming evidence against him and the judge at the time called his conduct 'arrogant'.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Jones assaulted Ms Nelson by penetration as she slept but later claimed she had lied and planted his DNA as evidence.

Prosecuting, Shaun Dodds said that she awoke on the sofa to find her pyjama bottoms had been removed

She went upstairs to her daughter’s bedroom and told her what had happened. She phoned Jones' wife and made the accusations to her.

Mr Dodds said that the wife’s response was to tell her: ”We all know what you are like when you have had a drink”. Her daughter filmed Jones’ denials, but the victim contacted the police.

A forensic scientist said that the DNA evidence was so strong that it could only have come from Jones.

Ms Nelson died without knowing that her brother had eventually admitted his crimes.

Defending, Jones' solicitor Jon Harley claimed his client was drunk when he attacked her and had no memory of the incident but accepted the DNA evidence by pleading guilty on the day of his trial.

Ms Nelson's daughter Katie Bristo said: "This case is for my mum but me and my family believe this could’ve happened to others as well. My mum and her sister remember this happening when she was eight years old during the night when she was asleep, and it continued to happen for a number of years. It was kept a secret by her family and my mum and my auntie were told by other children to prop bunk bed ladders behind the bedroom door to prevent him from getting into the bedroom at night.

"When this happened again five years ago, Graham tried to get my mum drunk and when she fell asleep he did it again; my mum woke up with her pyjama bottoms off and him sat next to her pretending to be asleep. I was in the house at the time. This was when my mum very bravely confronted him and came forward and told us what had happened; the day after she told the police and had a DNA test.

"Graham said in his original statement that he didn’t know about any of this and said my mum acted crazy and confronted him for no reason.

"At eight years old she definitely was not aware of what he was doing to her, she spent her life scared and ashamed but 15 years ago when we lived in Northern Ireland she had a nervous breakdown as he had done it again before the army posted her to Northern Ireland and she told her social worker about it .

"The bus crash happened January 2016 after he had molested my mum multiple times previously. He visited my mum that weekend purposefully without his wife with the intention of getting my mum drunk and molesting her again; he always preyed on her when she was going through difficult times and was at her most vulnerable. He wanted to come to Northern Ireland alone when he knew she was having a breakdown, because she was scared and I was a child she was scared for me as well which is why she told her social worker.

"He has lied to my family, his wife and his friends who all believe that my mum is a liar. My mum waited a long time to tell people what had happened to her and it was very brave of her to do it, unfortunately she never got her justice and in most cases this trial wouldn’t have gone ahead."

As well as the dangerous driving conviction in 2016, Jones was also convicted of drink driving in 1999. He served in the Army for 23 years and after leaving worked in a security role at RAF bases before becoming a bus driver.