Sheffield paedophile jailed for 24 years for sexually abusing young girls

A Sheffield man has been jailed for 24-years after being found guilty of a string of historical sex offences committed against two young girls, who were aged between seven and eight-years-old when the abuse began.
A Sheffield man has been jailed for 24-years after being found guilty of a string of historical sex offences committed against two young girls, who were aged between seven and eight-years-old when the abuse began.A Sheffield man has been jailed for 24-years after being found guilty of a string of historical sex offences committed against two young girls, who were aged between seven and eight-years-old when the abuse began.
A Sheffield man has been jailed for 24-years after being found guilty of a string of historical sex offences committed against two young girls, who were aged between seven and eight-years-old when the abuse began.

Neil Beeken was sentenced to 24-years in prison on Thursday, May 17, following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court where jurors found him guilty of six sex offences committed in Sheffield between 1994 and 2011.

Opening the case earlier this month, prosecutor, Paul O'Shea, told jurors how Beeken's accusers reported him to police, after an article about him being convicted of sex offences was published in a newspaper in 2015.

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He was part way through serving a five-year sentence for that spate of sex offences when this latest trial started on May 8, 2018.

Both of the girls abused by Beeken, some 12 years apart, were around the age of seven or eight when it began, the court heard.

Neither victim can be named for legal reasons.

The first offence committed by Beeken relates to an act of indecency with Girl A in 1994, when he exposed himself to her and attempted to get her to perform a sex act on him.

The five counts relating to Girl B took place place between 2006 and 2011.

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Prior to his offending against Girl B starting, Beeken groomed the girl by telling her she was 'special' and by making her watch pornography, the court heard.

"He committed a number of sexual offences against her which followed, the Crown say, an escalating level of seriousness," said Mr O'Shea.

Beeken was also acquitted of one count of raping a woman, which he was accused of committing in July 1995.

Beeken, of HMP Lindholme, was convicted of two counts of causing a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13, one count of the rape of a child under the age of 13 and one count of indecency with a child.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said the force could not provide a picture of Beeken, due to not holding one on their system.