THE devastating impact of child sexual abuse was laid bare in a Cumbrian courtroom as a victim’s sister faced her brother’s tormentor.

Just minutes after a jury convicted 78-year-old Raymond Monks of two child sex crimes against her brother during a weekend go karting trip to Rowrah more than a decade ago, the woman delivered her powerful statement.

“When your brother tells you he has been the victim of sexual abuse as a child, it’s hard to describe the pain you feel,” she began.

She said she had never before felt anger comparable to what she felt when she realised Monks and another man – 58-year-old Andrew Fairley – abused her brother. “You then feel horrendous guilt that you were not there to protect him,” she said.

She said Fairley, who repeatedly abused her brother when he was ten or eleven years old during go karting trips around the country - including at Rowrah, near Frizington - posed as somebody who helped children.

The sordid truth was that he - and Monks - were sexual predators.

To learn that Monks had also sexually abused her brother was “beyond comprehension,” she said. The woman said she had wondered why Monks had sexually exploited her brother, speculating that Fairley’s abuse may have encouraged the pensioner.

She suggested the two men may have shared information about the schoolboy in the belief that he would not reveal the abuse, though there has been no evidence to support that theory. The woman also compared the abuse – in the setting of organised children’s go karting events – to the child abuse scandal that rocked organised children’s football several years ago.

(That centred on the events involving young players at Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City due to the clubs' associations with the perverted youth coach Barry Bennell).

“How many other boys are out there that these men have abused, whom I wouldn’t be able to help who are suffering like my brother?” asked the woman, though again the court heard no evidence about any other victims.

She continued: “To say that our world was destroyed is not said lightly.”

The woman described the long legal journey the family faced to achieve justice through the courts. Since the abuse was reported to the police, she said, she had to fight for justice “every step of the way.”

She continued: “I feel it is my duty to help bring these men to justice to try to give [my brother] some closure so he might be able to move on with his life. [My brother] has severe anxiety and depression, which has made progressing in life very hard.”

Her brother was happy he reported the abuse but this did not mean his life was any easier. He had faced the two sets of legal proceedings – one for Fairley, who admitted his guilt; and one for Monks, convicted after a contested trial.

“My brother’s] anger towards his abusers but also the people who let him down in life is overwhelming and I can only hope it will end one day…These men do no think about the impact they have had on their victim.”

She added that she hoped other child abuse victims would come forward to seek the justice and closure they need.

In his statement, the now adult victim said the abuse he suffered from Monks and Fairley left him suffering panic attacks, depression and paranoia.

Haunted by memories of what happened, he found it difficult to work with older men. “Raymond Monks did not groom me in the same way Andrew Fairley did - but he also took advantage, predated on me and abused me,” said the victim.

“He then threw me to one side and didn’t care that I was a child; he used me to satisfy his own sexual fantasies. He will never know how much pain and suffering he has caused me.”

At the conclusion of Monks’ trial, Judge Richard Archer said he was convicted on “compelling” evidence. The judge noted how the pensioner had first shown the boy a pornographic film before abusing him.

“You used him… and then discarded him,” said the judge. He jailed the pensioner for six years and put him on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely.

The  trial heard that Fairley and Monks had spent time working on go karts together at the same event on the day when the pensioner abused the boy in his motor home after sending other children away.

Monks defended his decision to show the boys pornography, claiming they would probably have seen such material before. He denied having any sexual interest in the pornography, claiming he found it “amusing”.

The judge noted the sister’s claim that Monks knew about Fairley’s sexual abuse but said he had to sentence on the basis of the evidence before the court, which related to the one offence of the pensioner sexually abusing the boy.

“You have shown not one shred of remorse,” the judge told Monks. The pensioner,  of Greens Lane, Rossendale, Lancashire,  showed no emotion as he was led away to begin his sentence. Earlier this year, Fairley was jailed for eight years.

*  For information  about the support available for victims of sexual abuse Visit Constabulary’s website under the get advice section. If you have been affected by  rape or sexual assault, contact The Bridgeway Sexual Assault Support Service’s 24/7 free helpline on 0808 118 6432.