Former police officer John Edward Bates jailed for abusing boys in Cambridgeshire

Former police officer branded “the Jimmy Savile of the scouting world” was today jailed for a series of historic sexual assaults on four young boys in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. John Edward Bates, 68, assaulted kids as young as 10, who he showed pornographic films and magazines to before abusing them during visits to his home in the 1970s and 80s. He denied 22 charges against him, claiming that the victims fabricated the evidence against him, but a jury found him guilty of 16 charges of indecent assault on a male person.

He was also convicted of two charges of indecency with a child at Lincoln rown ourt on hursday. Bates, who served with Lincolnshire Police between 1976 and 1983 before being dismissed from the force, was cleared of two further charges of indecent assault and two serious sexual offences. Judge Simon Hirst described a predatory man who abused the enormous trust placed in him as a scout leader and police officer. Jailing him for a total of 20 years, the judge said: “You did them all real lasting damage – you did it for no other reason than to obtain sexual gratification for yourself.” During the trial, the jury heard that Bates, from Spalding, Lincs., had previously served a four year jail sentence for offences against young boys imposed at Nottingham rown ourt after an earlier investigation into him back in 1982. Prosecutor Grace Hale told the jury that Bates abused two of the boys while he was a scout leader in Wittering, Lincs., where he served in the Royal Air Force. In court, one victim described Bates as a “monster”, “the Jimmy Savile of the scouting world”. Another described Bates’ conviction as “the beginning of the end of my 40-year…living hell.” One witness told the jury that he was repeatedly abused by Bates from when he was just 10-years-old.

He said that Bates took him for a weekend in London where they watched Chelsea play and then sexually assaulted him at their overnight accommodation. Verisona Law have specific expertise in dealing with claims in respect of alleged assalts carried out by Scoutmasters. If you were subject to abuse please do not hesitate to contact our specialist child abuse solicitors. We will treat any communications with the strictest of confidence.