August 2012

Paedophile sent to jail for 14 years

Police have encouraged victims of sexual abuse to find the courage to come forward after a serial child sex offender was put behind bars for 14 years this week.

Ricardo Allemo, 66, also known as Donald Twidale, was jailed on Monday after a jury at Bristol Crown Court found him guilty of repeatedly raping a young girl in Radstock in the 1990s.

Detective Nicholas Scane, of Avon and Somerset police, was praised by Judge Michael Longman for his work in bringing the case before the court.

Mr Scane, who spent 18 months researching information provided to the police, told the Somerset Guardian the force takes historic allegations seriously and encouraged victims of past sexual abuse to come forward to help bring the perpetrators to justice.

He said: “This case sends out a strong message to people like Allemo that victims will not forget and will not go away. We take historic sex cases seriously and thoroughly investigate any information we receive. I hope this result gives victims the strength to come forward.”

The court heard how Allemo, who was sentenced to nine years in prison when he appeared before the same court in 1997 for similar offences committed in the 1970s against children when he was living in Midsomer Norton, had repeatedly raped and assaulted the girl, who is now in her 20s, when she visited his home from the age of seven to 11.

Judge Longman said: “It is clear she was a vulnerable child and that you saw her as such, partly because of her age and partly because she lacked the support of family or friends.”

“You appeared to offer kindness and friendship for her compliance and silence for many years.”

Judge Longman described Allemo as a man who “on the face of it lived a respectable life with your wife and children” while carrying out sinister attacks at the girl’s expense.

He said that she had to live with the secret and carried it with her until she found the strength to disclose what he had done.

Allemo, who had remarried and moved to Scotland following his release from prison, was given a 14-year sentence for rape and five and four-year terms for other sexual offences, all of which will be served concurrently.

A Sexual Offences Prevention Order was also made stopping Allemo having contact with children upon his release from prison.