A court heard he was a ‘manipulative nightmare’ and he secretly saw children in a ‘much more sinister way’ than he pretended to do
A perverted pensioner who “fancies children” has been jailed for 13 years after he was convicted of serious sexual offences against two girls.
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, formerly of High Street, Hull, but recently in custody on remand, denied a series of offences of indecent assault and sexual activity with a child, involving two girls, but he was convicted by a jury after an eight-day trial in July. 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, told the trial that Tether had a sexual interest in children and he was involved in sexual activity with two girls. “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 the two girls had made up the allegations against him. “If it was a hatchet job, they both could have gone further in their allegations,” said Mr Godfrey.
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.
Tether had been on bail during the trial but, after he was convicted, he was remanded in custody to await sentence. At a resumed hearing, Rachel Scott, mitigating, said that Tether did well on the court order that he was previously given for the indecent images offences.
He had done courses while in custody to address his sexual offending and the harm that it had caused. His health had deteriorated while he was in custody on remand.
He had lost his home through being in custody. “If he comes out of prison, he will be starting from the very bottom,” said Miss Scott.
Judge Tahir Khan KC said that the offences caused “psychological harm” to the two girls and they were “gravely serious”. Tether will have to register as a sex offender for life.