police officer jailed for child sex abuse

A retired police sergeant who was extradited from Australia and convicted of child sex abuse committed in the UK was jailed today for 18 years.
Jeffrey Lake, 78, was arrested at his home in Queensland, Australia, to stand trial on the historic offences - the vast majority of which were committed when he was a serving police officer in Accrington, Lancashire, and Liverpool.
The defendant emigrated in 2002 and had been living there for seven years when one of his two victims walked into a police station in Lancashire and said Lake had sexually and physically abused her as a child.
The woman was interviewed at length and when the investigation widened a man came forward and said he too had been abused by the defendant, Preston Crown Court was told.
He was arrested in Peregian Springs earlier this year and brought to the UK where he denied the allegations against him, said to have taken place in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Last week a jury unanimously found him guilty of 20 charges of historic abuse including rape, buggery, indecency with a child, indecent assault and child cruelty.
Sentencing him, Mr Justice King said each offence was a "serious example" of sexual and physical abuse which was committed in a sustained way.
Each of the two complainants had been deprived of achieving their full potential in adulthood as a consequence, he added.
The judge continued: "Each has suffered from deep depression over the years. Each has felt suicidal and attempted suicide.