A perverted pensioner who “fancies children” faces a lengthy prison sentence after he was convicted of serious child sex offences.
Raymond Tether had a “love of late-night internet surfing” and he had already been spared custody in 2020 after being caught making thousands of indecent images of children. He was “no oil painting” and he secretly saw children in a “much more sinister way” than he pretended to do, Hull Crown Court heard.
Tether, 74, of High Street, Hull, denied a series of offences of indecent assault and sexual activity with a child, but he was convicted by a jury after a trial. He was cleared by the jury of two other offences and he was cleared of another charge on the direction of the judge.
David Godfrey, prosecuting, said that Tether had a sexual interest in children. “He fancies children,” said Mr Godfrey. “That is his thing. That is what turns him on. Children.”
Tether claimed that he had no sexual interest in children but this was “utter rubbish” and “he saw them in a much more sinister way”.
During the trial, Tether declined to give evidence in his own defence. “Raymond Tether has hidden in this trial,” said Mr Godfrey. “He has not had the guts to make the short walk to the witness box and bring himself to account in this trial.
“He has bottled giving evidence because he knows the sorts of questions that he was going to be asked and he didn’t want to answer them. He has remained mute at the back of the court. When the going gets tough, he’s a coward.”
Tether claimed that allegations against him had been made up. Tether was a “manipulative nightmare” and he was “no oil painting”. He had a “love of late-night internet surfing” and he had a conviction in October 2020 for making indecent images of children.
“On each image he lusted over was a child on the other side of the images,” said Mr Godfrey. “He had no regard for those children depicted in the indecent images he viewed.”
The court heard at the 2020 hearing that Tether had indecent images in 2018 that included the rape of a girl aged three or four years old as well as images of a baby aged about six months. There were 159 images and a video in the most serious Category A as well as 291 images and two videos in Category B and 1,718 images in Category C.
He also had 546 prohibited images, including cartoons, and three videos as well as three extreme pornographic images, including of a dog. Tether had been given a 14-month suspended prison sentence that day, with 25 days’ rehabilitation.
Judge Tahir Khan KC told the jury concerning Tether’s failure to give evidence to the trial: “That is his right. He is entitled to remain silent and to require the prosecution to prove his guilt. You can’t assume he is guilty because he declined to give evidence.
“His silence at trial may count against him. You may draw the conclusion that he has not given evidence because he has no answer to the prosecution case or none that would bear examination or stand the test of cross-examination.”
Tether had been on bail during the trial but, after he was convicted, he was remanded in custody to await sentence in September.