After Paedophile Gary Campbell, 60, visited Warrington in July 2023 from his home in Dolton, Devon, he sexually assaulted boys. The offences fell between July 23 and August 2. After lingering near a Warrington tube where two youngsters, ages six and eight, were playing, he singled out two.
He went up to them three times in all. He had dropped some cash and sought their assistance in locating it. They did, and he handed them £70 to keep when they had gathered the cash.
He returned two days later to see them playing in a nearby park. Gary Campbell urged them to meet him close to the tube again and enquired whether they wanted extra money.
Gary Campbell urged them to bite him and kick him in the groin when there. He handed them £160; he watched them, then asked them to put it in their underpants and looked inside.
A few days later, he saw two more boys, ages seven and nine, playing close to the same tube again. He begged them to help him locate the money he had lost and count the money he had in hand.
Before handing the lads money, he once more urged them to kick him in the groin and bite him. He then sexually abused them. Gary Campbell, who had called himself “Peter” to the lads, was arrested on August 25, 2023, after being seen perpetrating the acts on CCTV.
His cell phone was taken, and several pornographic pictures of the guys turned up on it. He first claimed he had no recall of attacking the lads and attributed it to epilepsy.
Having lived in Warrington a few years before, he stated he had travelled from Devon and was helping a friend paint a house.
But in front of the overwhelming CCTV, phone evidence, and testimonies of the lads, he admitted to 22 counts at a Liverpool Crown Court hearing on December 19, 2023.
Gary Campbell was judged “dangerous” by the Judge today, 29 February, at Liverpool Crown Court, posing a great chance of significant injury. He was sentenced to fourteen years, nine years in jail, and given five years’ extended licence.
He will be put on the Sexual Offenders registry for an indeterminate duration, and his phones and obscene photographs will be deleted; he has an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed upon him.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Jiro Asafa, an exceptionally qualified barrister in CPS Mersey Cheshire’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) department, said: “Gary Campbell is every parent’s worst nightmare. Approaching youngsters he knew who were simply playing in a place where they ought to have been safe, he is a predatory paedophile. He reasoned he might be able to attack them undetectably.
“Acts that presumably gave him some kind of pleasure, he offered them sums of money and then demanded that they kick him and bite him.” He then sexually mistreated them.
“These kids have been left perplexed and upset as they could not understand what they were being asked to do and have.
“He is now behind bars after admitting his offence upon overwhelming proof.
“Less than seven months of Cheshire Police and Crown Prosecution Service investigation has concluded this case.
“We hope this helps the families and victims move on with their lives after this distressing episode.”
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